Frontline News
by Skymaster23
Summary: The continuation of Third wave. Final chapter up. Somethings are found, and some are lost.
1. Official visit

Frontline News.

* * *

Following the recovery of the Nerka, Gen. Abernathy is in his office when his phone rings while he is reading a report about an ABC news correspondent's escape from Lebanon. "Yes...Already?...Right, I'll see to it; good work Lt., thank you."

24 hours later, the Holograms head home after watching a basketball game."That was fun, wasn't it?"/"Everything but that interview that Sanders guy gave."/"Cheeuh, the way he kept talking was totally weird." They all say when Jerrica notices something. "Uh, Kim...did you leave the light on again?"

"Not me, Raya was the last one out."

Jerrica shrugs and turns the knob, finding it locked. "Raymond again; open up, you bogart, or you're gonna get it!" She warned while slamming herself against the door, only to find Gen. Abernathy, and Morelli in the TV room. "What the shit?" She asks, and is elbowed by Kimber. "If this is for some USO stuff, couldn't you have just called, Mr...?"

"General Abernathy, US Army; and no, the only thing we're here for is a **technical** issue, Miss Benton." He said after getting off the couch.

Jerrica scowls a little before replying. "Suppose i say no?" She asks, and he pulls out a folded piece of paper, one she opens up to see is a printed side by side photo of her "changing" during the concert in Washington. "This way...sir." She says, and leads them to where Synergy is.

"I thought i explained that she's not planning to take over the world or anything." She says while blocking Morelli from the console.

"I'm aware of your meeting with the President during that incident in the capitol; it's partly why we're here. We want to make a copy of-" Gen. Abernathy starts to say, but is interrupted.

"Forget it, there is no way in hell I'm letting you turn her into some killer robot thing, so get the fuck outta here right now!" She yelled.

"Settle down, young lady, that's not what we had in mind." Morelli tells her, then turns to the General. "Should we tell her, sir?"

"...I suppose she could handle it." He replied, then explains while placing his arms behind his back. "Miss Benton, how familiar are you with the G.I. Joe organization?"

"You mean those army guys who got framed just bef..." She was about to say when Synergy started up.

"I told you not to touch anything."/"I didn't; I'm too far away."/"Accessing...G.I. Joe is a U.S. counter-terrorism force led by a Colonel Sharp. It's goal is to prevent any and all threats from the mysterious terrorist network known as Cobra. Shall i continue?"/"No...you're not going to tell me that that illness my dad died from was something those snake freaks gave him, are you?" Jerrica asked The General.

"No, that was before Cobra was formed; but that thief you encountered in Washington, was from an affiliated agency whose identity you are better off not knowing; Cobra did however use holograms based on your father's first work in his field against a few members of the G.I. Joe team a few years back." He replied.

"What?!...How do you know all this, i thought that they were lead by that Colonel she just mentioned?" She asked next.

"It is; I'm just their official backer at The Pentagon."

"Uh-huh, so what about this copy you were talking about?"

"We wanted to copy the Synergy program for a training simulation for-" Morelli says, but is cut-off by The General.

"Morelli!"/"Right, sorry sir."

Jerrica pauses a second before he speaks again. "Given what you went through in Washington, Miss, Cobra is likely aware of it; so we could take measures to prevent them from trying anything."

"I scratch your back, you scratch mine?; I don't think that'll be a problem, Synergy's proven she can defend herself." She says, before facing the console. "What do you think about all this?"

"He has given several valid points; i am willing to submit so long as you give no offensive capabilities to it...and i will be watching." Synergy told them, and shows a hand on her screen pointing to a floppy disk slot.

Morelli nods nervously. "Um...Sure thing."

A while later, the two stop at the nearest base where Gen. Abernathy punches a few keys on a comm panel. "Dr. Hamler, we have the data. I'm sending Morelli to deliver it to you."

* * *

Chapter one. Read and review.


	2. Decision making

Frontline News.

In response to reviewer Please Adopt, these stories are based on the old Sunbow series. I only watched two or three episodes of Renegades.

* * *

In the commissary at Joe H.Q., Nash, Blais, and Sikorski* are cleaning up after the Joes. "Here fer fightin'...'stead ahm'a sweepin'." Blais sang while the other two tried to ignore him.

"Can "yuh'awl" do that without the griping, you're out of tune by a couple hundred klicks." Sikorski asked him. "Hillbilly."

"Hey, ahm a redneck, n' dun' fergit it."

"Pain in the neck's more like it."

"Dat does it, ahm'a knock yuh block off!"

While he and recent Green-shirt Millman restrain the pair, Nash speaks up. "Alright, can it; we've been all stressed out since The Colonel went and took us off the air, we just need to put that energy into other stuff."

"Like what?" Sikorski asked him.

"...How abouts makin' up codenames if we eveh git 'em?" Blais suggested.

"Nah, we did that 3 days ago." Nash replies. "And i still think you should be Rotorwash**." He said to Sikorski.

"Well i don't; Davis keeps leaving that damn laundry basket on my cot."

As the four leave, Blais turns the lights off, not knowing Green-shirt Haste is scrubbing the inside of a revolving tray oven.

"Wha-ow...Who did that?!...Hello?"

* * *

Chapter two. Read and review.

*Just found out it ended with an I. I forgot how many chapters have his name, so could any readers PM a list please?

**Made up.


	3. The Traitor part one

Frontline News.

* * *

Three months later, Col. Sharp is in the war room with Duke, Flint, Beachhead, and Stalker. They are looking at some photos of a dock, and Col. Sharp looks to the latter Joe.

"Is this information accurate, Stalker?" He asked.

"Yes sir, just deciphered it a few moments ago. Cobra is sending a disguised ship here to confiscate a shipment of Dylcon 98; the tanker carrying it'll arrive in 18 hours."

"Any idea what they intend to do with this substance?" He asks next, but Stalker shrugs.

"All we know is that it's a bio-hazard."

After dismissing Stalker, Col. Sharp looks to the other three; the second of which nods to himself. "You have a plan, Flint?"

"My idea is that we place some troops among the ship's crew and wait for them, sir." He suggested.

"Hmm, what do you men think?" The Colonel asked the other two.

"Ah'd send some W.H.A.L.E.s tuh intehcept 'em." Beachhead told him.

Duke looks at some of the pictures before picking one up. "I think it'd also be a good opportunity to test out that new armor treatment i mentioned; so lets alter Flint's idea a tad. I could lead a few tanks hidden in this warehouse, say...two Maulers, four Armadillos." He said, handing it to The Colonel.

"Do you two agree?" He asks, but both shake their heads.

"Sounds risky tuh me, sir."/"I agree with him, we haven't even tested it against small arms yet."

"So we're deadlocked?" Duke asked them.

"No, the last word is mine." Col. Sharp says, then turns to the 2IC. "And i say we go with Duke's plan."

Reluctantly, Flint and Beachhead nod before they salute and part ways.

* * *

A while later at the Texas City bank, two men walk into one of the offices. "An-anything i can do for you two?" The person at the desk asked them, taking a moment to check his glasses.

"We are here with..."

"a proposition for..."

"one of your clients, Mr. Smiler."

After a few seconds, 'Mr. Smiler' asks which one they are referring too.

"The one we mean..."

"is this man here..."

"We understand he's part of G.I. Joe." They say, and the un-scarred one pulls out a picture.

Mr. Smiler takes the photo. "Mrs. Tadur's son; what business do you gentlemen have with him, exactly?" He asks next.

"Merely admirers..."/"we've been following..."/"their progress for some time."

"Oh, well i can hand you some contact information from one of his mother's medical bills; she's got some respiratory illness, you see." He says, and heads for a filing cabinet.

After reading the paper, they speak again. "Thank you, Mr. Smiler; and inform Mr. Tadur..."

"to meet us tonight at the Stumble Inn."

After getting back from Texas City, Dusty heads to Col. Sharp's office, only to find Duke inside. "Duke, wheres the Colonel?"

"He's out; said he has to oversee the final phase of some big project overseas, so what do you need?" He replied as he leaned back in his old chair, and Dusty explains after sitting down.

"Those guys from Extensive Enterprises, they showed up at this bar while i was on that furlough you gave me."

Duke stands up at this. "Are they holding your mother hostage, how much do they want?" He asks, thinking back to the crystal incident.

"It ain't a ransom, Duke; they-they offered to transfer some funds in exchange for the armor treatment." Dusty answered. "Enough to pay it all off a dozen times over."

"So it's not a repeat of **that** time; you're not planning to accept, are you?" Duke asked next, expecting the reply.

"I...I don't know; i want to pay off the debt...but if i do, it'd be with who knows how much blood money. What am i supposed to do?" Dusty asked while holding his head in his hands.

Duke sits back down and thinks for a few seconds before looking up. "I have an idea, but you're not going to like it."

* * *

Upon Shipwreck's discovery in the forest near the chemical plant, Alpine is pulling down another one of the decoys. "Well aren't you a familiar lil bastard?" He asks himself, thinking back to the time Bazooka was K.O'ed on the rollercoaster/shooting gallery, as well as the rescue mission at the gamesmaster's island. He glances over to his right at Lady-Jaye, also reminded of how concerned he was for her...and Flint...both times, and drop kicks it in frustration just before hearing helicopter blades above him.

* * *

Inside the oilrig, Spirit and Torpedo are checking around a random room. "Nothing so far in this rustbucket." Torpedo tells himself.

"Only anxiety; your's and the others." Spirit says in response.

"Heh, can't tell if I'd like some of that crazy native stuff of your's or not right now." Torpedo replies, then yelps and fires at the floor when he feels something hit his foot.

A few seconds later, Rock 'n Roll and Zap rush in. "Drop it now, you son of-" The first one started to say, but stopped when he noticed the lack of a dead teammate.

"...If both of you are still standing, then what was the shooting about?" Zap asked them.

"Um...Tissue, anyone?" Torpedo asks sheepishly, then tosses it and raises his rifle. "You weren't thinking i was the traitor, now were you; buddy?" He asked, with a sneer.

"Okay, fine, i got antsy, so sue me; just quit pointing that at me." Rock 'n Roll told him, with a glare.

"No way, jose; after you." Torpedo replied.

"I insist; drop the rifle, Torp'."

"Not happening, Rocker."

While Spirit and Zap try to defuse the situation; Duke's voice is heard over their walkie-talkies warning about the bombs, and all four drop their rifles and run out.

* * *

Scarlett had just gotten past the firewall of Beachhead's mile* when an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "Attention, Joes incoming; Med team to landing area, Charlie 2-1." Knowing that Charlie 2 meant injured Joes while 1 was for how many, she climbed out and ran for the landing area. When she, along with Thunder, Airborne, and Heavy Metal see Duke on a stretcher, she runs over. "What happened out there?" She asked.

"That camel-humping piece of shit sold us out, and Duke nearly died because of it!" Stalker told her while seething.

"Wha...Dusty did this; how?" She asked next, feeling like she had been punched in the gut.

"Cobra ditched the joint afteh stuffing a store room with a ton of explosives dat had it's light switch rigged up to some C4; Duke was thrown overboard afteh da rest of us jumped off." Short-Fuze explained.

"That...He wouldn't." Scarlett replied, thinking about how Dusty was too much of a softy to do this.

"We 'eard it from Duke himself jes' buhfer he passed out; right Ship...Where'd he go?" Gung-Ho told her before they all notice Shipwreck missing.

While looking around, a warning came over the intercom. "Emergency in Lab-5, this is not a drill; fire suppression team respond immediately!"

At the same time Flint, Spirit, and Roadblock are driving over, Alice is regreasing a Skystriker's wing when she sees movement out of the corner of her left eye. "Hmm; hey Kate, doesn't Dusty know that Mauler is off-limits till it's oil change?" She asked a fellow mechanic.

"Guess not...hang on, I'll call it in...Cpl. Fisher to Flint, there seems to be a mix-up since Dusty just took off in Heavy Metal's Mauler."

"Is it armed, Cpl.?"

"Huh...I'm not sure, sir."

"Where's he heading?"

"He's moving, uh, northwest toward the fence."

"10-4."

* * *

Meanwhile, Col. Sharp is outside the "Watchdog" fortress having a smoke-break** when a Humvee stops next to him. "Sir, Mainframe sent me; said you have a call from someone named Flint." The driver tells him. The Col. tosses his cigarette before getting in.

Once in the control room, Flint tells him about the current situation. "Understood; have a plane sent to pick me up as soon as you can." The Col. says to him.

"With respect sir, Beachhead and i can handle the situation-" Flint replies, only for Dr. Hamler to scoff from somewhere offscreen. "-on our own." He continued.

Col. Sharp pauses for a second before nodding. "Very well, just keep that formula out of Cobra's hands; and if it means executing **him...** do it." He ordered.

"Yes sir." Flint replied, wishing he had agreed with Beachhead's interception plan earlier.

* * *

Chapter three. Read and review.

*Made up.

**Smoking is bad.


	4. The Traitor part two

Frontline News.

* * *

While on his way to wherever Cobra's base is, Dusty goes over the turn of events.

Flashback.

On his way back inside H.Q. after his escape attempt, he glances to Clutch, who was escorting him alongside Mutt. "Can i ask one thing before you lock me up?"

"Want to know how many of us will be on the firing squad?" Clutch asked back with a feigned grin.

"Shipwreck said Duke was in a coma; what from, exactly?" Dusty asked, wanting to know a bit more.

"Why, so you can tell the snakes what to celebrate over, you sand snorting bastard." Clutch asked next, while Mutt explained about the platform explosion.

"They went off before he could jump; was out cold before he hit the water."

Dusty sighs; they had discussed letting the other three leaders in on the plan, but Duke wanted it small scale. He then asked about Scarlett, and was told that she was holed up in her room. "It's one reason we kinda regret your being sent out."

"...It is?"

"Yeah, I'd give a month's pay to watch her shred you to ribbons." Clutch told him with a cold snicker.

* * *

Some time later, at Joe H.Q., Col. Sharp has returned after hearing about the attack on the bus. "First you tell me you can handle things and then tell me that two men are injured, four are dead, and a spy is taken right in front of you?" He asks Flint while exiting the plane. "I ought to have all of you discharged!"

Flint and Beachhead try to calm him down, but he keeps shouting. "I don't want to hear it; Lady-Jaye, change all our security codes."

"Yes sir."

"I want seven teams sent out." He says next. "Team one will be here in the U.S.; team two will be in Canada; teams three, four, and five will head for Europe, while six and seven will head for Asia. Depending on what they find, you will converge and search South America; understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Col. Sharp goes to his office and pulls out a small device. "This is as good a time as any." He says, under his breath. "Watchdog, this is Col. Sharp..."

Several minutes later, the duty roster is shown in the briefing room.

Team one: Airtight, Bazooka, Short-Fuze.

Team two: Footloose, Cutter, Flash.

Team three: Breaker, Cover-Girl, Thunder.

Team four: Airborne, Blowtorch, Gung-Ho.

Team five: Crankcase, Recondo, Rock 'n Roll.

Team six: Grunt, Roadblock, Scarlett.

Team seven: Alpine, Ripcord, Snow-Job.

The Joes react to the choices poorly. "What good would an arctic trooper do in in the Pacific?"/"Putting Bazook with **him** again?"/"Why send me to Europe, there's no jungles there."/"No offense, but this don't make much sense."

* * *

At the same time, Dusty is being lead inside the enemy base.

"Isss there anything you'll need now that you're one of uss?" Cobra Commander asked him.

"I have been wondering about something, sir." Dusty asked back.

"Ssuch asss?"

"I was told a...certain someone was taken out of action earlier, any idea who and how?" Dusty asked, as indirectly as possible.

"Oh, they didn't even tell you what happened to poor, poor Duke?; Sseemss he wasss caught in an explosion while invesstigating on one of our off-sshore outpostss." Cobra Commander says first. "One of our high altitude ssurveillancce aircraft recorded it; not only that, but the footage hasss been sselling like hot cakess!"

"...Surveillance craft; you mean those big honkin' carriers of your's?" Dusty asked, doing everything he could not to strangle him.

"No, these are much sma-" Cobra Commander started to say, but Destro cut him off over a wall mounted intercom.

"I would advise you not to finish that, Commander. We have not yet finished scanning him for listening devices."

"And i would advisse you not to interrupt me!" Cobra Commander replied, and the two keep walking.

"Do you have any of these planes here now?" Dusty asked him.

"Not at the moment, and only the Strato-Vipers, Garter snakes*, and the Cobra leadership are authorized to know the specifics of them." Cobra Commander told him.

"Ok...Garter snakes, who are they?" Dusty asked next.

"Just the officcial name for our misscc. perssonnel; mechanicss, ssupply, medical...And sspeaking of which, we recently made improvementss to our medical plan." After that, the two are approached by a Blue-shirt. "Trooper 2688, esscort our newest member to the barrackss."

"Yes, Commander; barracks are this way."

* * *

While Col. Sharp is at Texas City informing Dusty's mother of a few things, Beachhead is removing printouts of Dusty's face from the shooting range targets, and Scarlett is waiting in the infirmary next to Duke's bed.

"If you can hear me, things haven't been going so well out there." She says aloud, then wipes her eyes. "~We could sure use your help right now, so hurry and get up...please, Duke."

A few hours afterwards, Flint and his squad are returning from the failure at Leary chemicals. He ignores everyone in the hall and slams the door of his office before calling the Col. "Sir, we...we just got back from Leary...Yes sir, they've started using the armor treatment alre-" He says, and pulls the earpiece away for a few seconds before continuing. "I also think we need a new aquatic vehicle; one smaller and faster than our W.H.A.L.E.s"

Some time after regaining the upperhand at the Owsley factory, The Col., Flint, and Beachhead are going over their next move. "Now that we're on the ball again, what next?" Col. Sharp asked.

"We 'ave word dat Cobra maybe afteh dis warehouse, sir." Beachhead says, showing a picture of a building with the name "Van Mark" on it. "It's da nearest to the last place they were at." He said next, with Flint adding that they sent Snake-Eyes there already to leave some tracking devices on the gas canisters.

"Good work, men. Flint, take a squad to intercept them." Col. Sharp ordered.

* * *

After Flint's squad was brought to the base, Trooper 2688 is among the crowd gathered at the execution room. He sees Cobra Commander, The Twins, and Dusty up on the viewing platform.

"Warrior's of Cobra, from this day forward, the world belongs to us!" He hears, and joins the other Blue-shirts in the chant and in mocking the Joes. He hears the one in the old sailor's outfit cussing out Dusty, and sees the one in the beret holding the chick Xamot showed close to him while saying something to her that he couldn't hear, and notices the vents closing behind the Blue-shirts across from him.

"...What the hell...The g...gas!, Eve-everyone out, we've-been tricked!" 2688 shouts inbetween coughing as he manages to escape the room with some others.

* * *

A few hours later, Flint's squad gets back to H.Q. While Flint reports the outcome, Lady-Jaye shows off the "loot", and Shipwreck and the other Joes apologize to Dusty; Deep-Six heads to his usual quiet spot and presses a button on his suit. "Rockmover** to Tango Delta***, prepare to receive latest report."

* * *

Chapter four. Read and review.

*Made up.

**A type of camo using fish.

**Terror Drome.


	5. Another roster addition

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to the Coca-cola company

* * *

After getting a cast on his forearm, Green-shirt Blais is called to Col. Sharp's office. "Yuh wants ta see me, sir; ah mean sirs?" He asked, having noticed Flint was there too.

"Yes we did, Cpl." The Col. said while motioning to Flint. "My 3IC has informed me of your performance during the deployment earlier; and we've come a decision."

Cpl. Blais glances between the two nervously. "Wut uh, wut mait dat be, Col. sir?"

The Col. picks up a folder. "According to this, you're an E-4 Corporal, correct?" He asked aloud.

"...Yeas sir" Cpl. Blais replied slowly.

"You mean you were an E-4 Corporal; because as of today, you are..." The Col. starts to say.

Several minutes later, Blais bursts into the Rec-room. "Hoo'wee; take a look, fellars, ah is one a' y'awl naw!" He shouts, causing Shipwreck to miss his pool shot, and Grunt to spit out some Mr. Pibb.

"There a reenactment going on?"/"Far out."/"Halloween already?" Frostbite, Footloose, and Bazooka ask at the same time, seeing Blais in a light brown vest, and dark blue pants with boots that are mostly the same color of grey as the cap, which also had goggles resting on them.

"Looking sharp there, Blais...or should we call "yuh" something else?" Cover-Girl asked as she walked around him.

"Yuh kin cawl me Cross-Country fram 'ere on owt." He replied while taking a small bow before raising a fist in the air. "Yo Joe!"

Everyone glanced to themselves and cheered. "Yo Joe!"

* * *

Chapter five. Read and review.


	6. Day at the office

Frontline News.

* * *

Two days after finding out about the latest member of their enemy, Destro is in his M.A.R.S. office meeting with some of his R&D department. "I understand you gentlemen have some new designs for me." He says to them, and they all nod and show a number of blueprints of vehicles.

He picks up the first one, a sort of helicopter with a rotor on the left and right. "This is what i refer to as the Mamba, Mr. McCullen." The first designer tells him. "It has titanium alloy rotor heads, turboshaft engine, a noise suppressor system, and two detachable support craft."

Destro stares at the sheet for a few seconds before setting it down. "Not the worst concept; but the combination of dual rotors and dual mini-craft seem too complicated. Next one, please."

He is then shown a ground vehicle which has an angled drive pod on the left with a gun battery on top and some object on it's right, while on it's left, there is a heavy weapons emplacement. The second designer calls it the D.E.M.O.N. "I call it the Dual Elevating Multi-Ordinace Neutralizer." Only for Destro to shake his head.

"I call it repulsive, it's too wide and thin, and looks like a child drew it." He says aloud.

"Well, it was; sort of."

"Sort of?"

"My grandchild had this dream the other-" The designer tries to say, but Destro smacks the table.

"Enough; if you want to spend more time with your family instead of doing serious work, let me give you a hand with that...you're fired, wipe his memory and get him out of here!"

After that, he checks the third vehicle with four seats and three wheels. "This is the STUN, a high speed attack scout. It has all-terrain puncture proof wheels, twin pivoting laser cannons; and the forward seats are capable of splitting when parked for maintenance."

Destro mulls over the blueprint and nods to himself. "This one seems worthy; I'll pass it on to Cobra Commander later." He says, and moves to the next one, a Firebat sized delta shaped jet.

"It's called the Raven, a light fighter interceptor craft meant to replace our Rattlers."

Destro blinks and shakes his head. "I don't see the need for this, we already have the Night spy plane."

"...How about combining them, Mr. McCullen?" The fourth designer asked him.

"Combining; sounds intriguing...we'd need to remove the surveillance components, and arm it; but it may prove useful in the future." Destro says, then nods to the person.

The next schematic is for a large ground vehicle with a drill on it. "What might this be?" He asked the fifth designer, who calls it the Pit Viper.

* * *

Chapter six. Read and review.


	7. Pit of Vipers

Frontline News.

* * *

Half an hour after "giving his dog a bath", Shipwreck is still searching for the Cerebus. "Come on, where the hell are ya?" He asks before noticing a sonar ping ahead of him. He starts to get a lock before he gets a familiar signal on the screen, one from a transponder Duke gave.

"Mara; how've ya been, babe?" Shipwreck asked after surfacing and opening the canopy.

"I've been doing fine so far, but what brings you all the way out here?" Mara, who had long since gotten a normal wet-suit, asked him, and he explains the whole story to her. "Taking orders from a machine sure beats taking them from Cobra, doesn't it?"

"Heh ha, maybe; but i could use a hand finding one of their ships called the Cerebus, ever heard of it?" He asks next.

"I have, it's C.N.V. 16*, which was just beginning construction when i was...altered; if you head 34 miles southeast of here, you'll find one of their undersea outposts." She tells him while pointing in that direction. "It was great seeing you again-" She says before he leans over and reached a hand to her.

"It'd be better to wish me luck, Mara." He says, and she smiles before leaning towards him, and the two share a short kiss.

"Good luck; now get a move on, Shipwreck." She tells him, and watches as he speeds off.

* * *

Somewhere in Washington, the Jugglers are watching the Pit Viper running around the Joe's base, and are panicking while Green-shirts and mechanics either run from it, or do what little they could to defend against it.

"What in god's name is that thing?!"

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening!"

"Get all the nearest National Guards there now, god dammit!"

While they are distracted, Gen. Abernathy leaves the room and heads to the one Col. Sharp is being held at, having been abducted during the "grand opening" of the site. Once the door is open, The Colonel shows how displeased he is. "I'll make sure you hang for this perso-" He starts to say, only to stop when he notices the General shoot the camera, shut the door, and raise a finger.

"Three...two...one." He hears Gen. Abernathy say, and raises an eyebrow just before hearing an explosion, and another voice saying a semi-welcome shout behind the locked door.

"We're in, find those officers and waste 'em!"/"Cobra!"

Col. Sharp is about to curse The Gen. out again, until he reaches into a pocket and tosses a key to him. After unlocking himself, he asks if this is all just a bad dream or not.

Gen. Abernathy shakes his head. "Fortunately no, those men are disguised C.I.A. agents; some time ago, i inserted myself in with those other generals as part of a sting operation."

Col. Sharp nods in realization. "...I see, and now that this project was revealed to be Cobra's doing-"

"Cobra troops are "executing" a number of U.S. top brass as part of a contingency plan." Gen. Abernathy finished, and is about to say something else when his phone rings. "Huh...Oh-It's Scarlett; yes, I'm aware of what's been happening...I'm with Colo...You and Breaker are where?!"

* * *

9 hours after the Watchdog ordeal, Duke returns to base, having been at his step-grandfather's funeral when he was informed, and heads to the infirmary to speak with Flint and the other survivors. He's led to post-op where the former is resting, with Lady-Jaye at his bedside. He also sees Alpine, Beachhead, Barbecue, Shipwreck, Crankcase, Gung-Ho, and Cross Country, all their clipboards stating "shrapnel".

He turns when he senses someone behind him, and relaxes when he sees that it's Doc. "How many others?" Duke asks him.

Doc sighs before answering. "Well, i just finished Heavy Metal's wrist cast; and Cover-Girl, Steeler, and Snake-Eyes have lacerations. Even Junkyard was injured, Mutts still considering whether or not to find a replacement. Also, aside from you and me, Deep-Six is the only Joe not injured; but it could just be from him not having been weighed down by that suit of his at the time."

Duke mumbles to himself and leans against a wall. "Casualties?"

"41; 29 of which were the non-combat personnel." Doc explained while looking down.

As Duke scowls at that, Gung-Ho adds that Green-shirt Davis was one of the dead. "Dey found him...wut was left a' him...in da laundreh room wit' Dwight and Terrence...Dun' know how ahm gonna tell muh sisteh Mireille 'bout it."

After hearing that, they hear Breaker announce that Gen. Abernathy's plane has landed. Duke wishes all of them well before heading to the hall, only to see Scarlett. The two embrace, and she breaks down. "Oh Duke; It~it was horrible, that thing~over all our people...Doc had to~take Alyssa's leg~after it rolled over her while she was running from one of the F.L.A.K. guns; he say's she'll never hear aga~i~n!"

Duke shakes his head while rubbing her back. "It's alright now, Shana; it's alright, just go see Rich...he did make it, didn't he?" He asked, and she nods.

"He took one of the M.O.B.A.T.s and tried to stop it, but it was like it had that armor treatment from earlier." She tells him, and he raises a brow, not he could believe her about the base psychiatrist doing that.

"...That or they're just aging." Duke says aloud, and she asks what he means. "I spoke with Beachhead while i was on the way here, he said all of them and the Sluggers were acting up again; we need The Brass to stop fighting over which of the new vehicles is better and just build the damn things already." He said, and she snickered before they part ways.

While heading to the exit, he sees Langdon moving her wheelchair away from one of the phones. "Were you calling someone, Cpl.?" He asked.

"Yeah, just letting my ex know that I'm resigning; seeing what that overgrown toy car from hell did to the base reminded me of the time Delta fired on us, so I'm out. Take care, sir." She replied, and waved as he let her pass through the door before he headed to The General's plane to speak with him and Col. Sharp.

* * *

Chapter seven. Read and review.

*Made up registry, and I'm having them label all their ships like that to confuse opponents.


	8. Mail Call part three

Frontline News.

* * *

After a week of replacing Green-shirts and maintenance staff, the Moes are making their rounds once again. In the mostly finished commissary, Roadblock is opening a package, finding a pecan pie and a folded paper.

"Wuts it say, homme?" Gung-Ho asked while mixing some Jambalaya.

"It's from a cousin of mine, and what he says aint all fine."

"Really; what happened?" Ace asks him while Stalker and Cutter look over, and Roadblock explains that his Aunt and Uncle retired and gave the diner to their son Lamont, who sent the pie as part of a test. After they all try a slice, they write another letter saying he passed.

After that, Bazooka tells them that Wire Cutter gave him a letter saying that Green-shirt Musashi has been elevated to full Joe, codename: Azimuth*.

* * *

In what was the intel room, Lady-Jaye gets a letter and lets out an excited shout.

"What's that ya got?" Tollbooth asked while dropping a box of computer components on Quick-Kick's foot.

"Huh...Oh, it's a letter from a friend of mine, the one who Airborne borrowed a jet from; he says he just got promoted to Major, isn't that great?" She asks him while smiling and pointing at it.

"I guess...Think so, Quick?" Tollbooth replied while Quick-Kick glared and flipped him off. "...What'd i do?"

* * *

In what was left of the briefing room, Col. Sharp is informing the other three leaders that the X-30's testing phase is over, and the prototype Tomahawk is under construction.

"Good to hear sir; anything else?" Duke asks him while Flint and Beachhead nod to each other.

Col. Sharp leans back. "There is; Gen. Abernathy called earlier saying that Flint's request for a new sea-craft; and the Recon Sled, are being delayed until the H.A.V.O.C. is approved and field-tested." He explains.

Flint rolls his eyes before Duke pats his back. "You shouldn't take it too personal, Flint; I'm sure we'll get them before this time next year."

* * *

Out on the training range, a stuffed model of Cobra Commander is having it's arm pulled off. The attacker shakes the appendage wildly, then spits it out and points to Junkyard's replacement. "See, just like that, Jr.; now go get him!"

Shipwreck, Rock 'n Roll, and Short-Fuze all start laughing before one of the Moes walks up. "Hey, it's a video from Satin!"

"It is?"/"What's it say?"

"Hold on to the yard arm, cause it says "second pregnancy!" Shipwreck replied while showing the title on the little box.

"Haha; Yo Joe!"

* * *

Chapter eight. Read and review.

*Made up codename for semi-real character.


	9. Turning point part one

Frontline News.

 _This will indicate foreign language._

* * *

Four and a half days later, a small squadron of Skystrikers from G.I. Joe's Asian branch is on a training flight. The lead jet's pilot looks over his right shoulder. _"Trainee 5, you're drifting too close to Trainee 4, nudge the stick right a little. Copy?"_

 _"R-Right...Correcting now, Tailspin*; sir."_ He hears over his radio before a second voice speaks.

 _"Sir, i think i just saw something left of us dive between two clouds a second ago. Over."_

'Tailspin' looks to his left, but sees nothing. _"Are you certain, Trainee 2?"_ He asked after shaking his head. The other pilot mentions also seeing a slight black trail where it was. _"Tailspin here, one of my flyers reported a possible plane going down nearby...anything on radar? Over."_

 _"Acknowledged; we have been getting something, but it keeps vanishing. Have your squadron return, and we'll send back up. Over and out."_

After landing and refueling, Tailspin takes off again with Azimuth* following. _"How far is it to the site?"_ Azimuth asked him. " _Over_."

 _"About 26 miles from here, west of the La Perouse strait, so watch your six. Over."_

 _"_ Go _,_ GI Joe _., Over and out."_

Once they reach the location, they check the small islands below them for several minutes until Azimuth notices a small black object embedded in a toppled tree with other black and orange pieces near it, and calls it in. " _Tailspin, I'm seeing some debris on the third island, whatever that trainee of your's saw must have crashed here."_ When Tailspin makes his approach from the other side of it, he sees a debris trail with a twisted wreck at the end of it. _"Whoa...what is it?"_ Azimuth asked him.

" _No idea, it's not in our records."_

Before landing however, the two notice a ship approaching; one with a Soviet flag on it. _"Attention GI Joe aircraft, you are in presence of Soviet property; depart immediately or we shoot you down."_

Azimuth responds angrily. " _These islands are in Japanese waters, you're not setti-"_ Only he is cut off.

" _Oh, you misunderstand, we raided Cobra base where pilot made escape; unknown jet was damaged in process, is why it is now scrap metal."_

Tailspin nods to himself before replying. " _You understand that we still have to report this, Capt..."_

 _"Captain Todorov**; and you will report, over formerly secure channel, that we have taken all wreckage."_

 _"...We accept."_ Tailspin said, and slammed a fist on his knee.

* * *

Later, Tailspin and Azimuth return to their carrier, where Feedback* informs their C.O., Top Notch*, who passes the description to Col. Sharp. "Very well, We'll do what we can to dig up whatever the Soviets found out about that aircraft; Col. Sharp out." He tells his foreign counterpart, then shuts the screen off.

"Breaker, get me the C.I.A. director."

"Yes sir...You, uh, suppose that jet's been over the base, Col.?"

"Even if not that particular one, it's probable; damn, we'll have to increase our radar range as well." Col. Sharp replied, and left to inform Duke, Flint, and Beachhead.

* * *

Chapter nine. Read and review.

*Made up codenames.

**O.C.


	10. The Wrong Stuff

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Bowling for Dollars, Mr. Clean, or Star Trek.

* * *

Three and a half days after being informed that an Agent Provost had been sent, Col. Sharp is taking a walk around the base. He sees Stalker watching over and shouting at some Green-shirts doing P.T. "Nash, Sikorski; you two clumps of crap are slower than you were yesterday, how the hell is that possible?!", but dismisses it and keep wandering.

He then sees Thunder, Crankcase, Torpedo, Zap, Flash, Gung-Ho, and Wild Bill doing push-ups and heads over to them. "Working up that much sweat, huh; how long till you finish?" He asked them with a small grin.

"About...81 more...sir." Torpedo grunted, making The Colonel scratch his head in confusion, then look back at the Green-shirts, before walking away deciding he misheard.

He head to back inside and just shuts the door to the restroom when he hears Lady-Jaye and Scarlett whispering behind him. "-ow right, it's weird; Peach took six minutes longer than usual during the afternoon jog today."/"That reminds me of how Duke was complaining that his uniform was feeling tighter, lately."

Col. Sharp went wide eyed at that: Slowing down...physical strain...size increases? He heads to the commissary. Inside, he saw various Joes eating pies, burgers, pastas, and other things of restaurant quality. He gets an eye twitch and heads to his office. "Now hear this..."

* * *

During the two weeks of Col. Sharp's mandatory exercise regimen (for everyone but Deep-Six, who was the only one not needing it for some reason), Cobra Commander got a letter asking him to be in an alley in the city he had recently ordered construction on. After a few minutes, his mask's HUD indicated a presence behind him, and he turns to see a black garbed figure.

"Oh, it's you...What does The Supreme Ruler ask of me?" He asks her.

"Two days ago, a cargo ship from Sirius made a delivery to us, only to have one extra, and unintended, item that they intercepted."

Flashback.

A saucer shaped craft lands beside a large moth like creature, and two violet skinned beings walk out to meet a group of greyish ones. "Let us see what goods you have for us this time." The lead local says, and follows the two inside while others unload the ship. They step onto a lift and descend to a pseudo-space level, passing by eight containers, a block of glowing pink fluid, and five creatures restrained by forcefields when they see a large cylinder.

"This was detected on our flight path nine days ago originating from your planet; any idea who launched it?"

End flashback.

"The anti-vegetation missile...Pythona, is it still active?" He asked, but she shook her head.

"Unfortunately, they disposed of the warhead before determining it's origin point; standard procedure according to them."

Cobra Commander kicks a wall repeatedly before pausing and rubbing his hands together. "While we can't do **that** again, there is a way **they** can aid Cobra's efforts."

"Whatever you intend; be warned, Golobulus's patience has been wearing thin of late." He heard, but when he turns to reply, she is already gone.

* * *

After refurbishing an abandoned temple a few hundred miles northwest of Cobra-La, the Baroness, Lt. Clay Moore, and Wild Weasel are reading some stapled sheets. "I don't see why i have to be this "Purpy" dork; why not get Zartan or his goons to do it?" The pilot asked.

"Becaussse Zartan iss rehearssing for "Father'sss no beasst" at the moment and hiss goo...hiss Dreadnoks are manning the ssatellite!"

"We aren't enjoying this either, sir." Moore said, having been suckered into it by Trooper 2688. A voice over the intercom then announced that the candidates for Mr. C have arrived.

* * *

In the Goren residence, Sally is with her son, Joe, watching cartoons when it is interrupted by a different show. "Do you know what we like; we like when everyone's the same as us, cause we're The Likables!"

* * *

At the Slaughterhouse, The Sarge is watching Bowling for Dollars when it is replaced by a scene showing a man turning into a werewolf. "Don't trust anybody; i could be your neighbor." It was saying before The Sarge turns it off.

"Or a real pain in the ass." He says, then takes his T.V. outside and throws it.

A half hour later, a teen with green highlights in his black hair has just finished on a truck with armor plates and the gun from a Whirlwind he found in a junkyard on it. "Hah; the death-o-matic is ready for action!" He says while heading inside, only for something to burst through the garage roof, flattening most of it. "...What the feckin' hell just happened?!" He yelled as he turned around.

* * *

At a factory in Atlanta, Georgia, a middle-aged man is hanging up the phone, and slams a fist on the desk.

"Something wrong, dad?" A blond haired girl asked, having heard the sound.

"Eh; sorry about that, Bree, just got a call from our advertising department in New York." The man replied.

"What'd they say?"

"Well, because of the media takeover, everyone's being charged...five million for 30 seconds?, I'm calling my old C.O., he''ll know what to do."

"And who would that be?"

"He's a senator; Flim."

* * *

While waiting for the shuttle to be finished, some of the Joes who failed the astronaut training session are in the rec-room watching T.V.

"And here we see Cobra's science specialists hard at work." A voice says, and Cross Country, Footloose, and Recondo all scoff.

"Doing what, figuring out how a paper clip works?" Snow-Job asked while playing cards with Ripcord, Cutter, and Clutch.

The reporter walks up to a bald man with a monocle. "Hey, that looks like the guy we saw back when we rescued Dr. Renault!" Cutter said, pointing to the screen.

"What exactly is it you're working on here, Mr..." The reporter asked.

"Mr. Clean's evil twin?" Recondo remarked.

"Dr. Mindbender; and vhat you are seeing is-"

"The "How to be a loser 5000"." Rock 'n Roll said outloud.

"-ogramming for robotic arms; howefer, due to security reasons, ve cannot show the monitors." The Cobra "scientist" finished.

"Yeah, and here's a living person's arm for you!" Snow-Job said, and flipped the screen off.

* * *

A few weeks later, the Joes are watching the shuttle being set in place. "I still think you should have used this earlier, sir." Mainframe said to Col. Sharp.

"And i told you if you keep that up, I'd have you busted down to Pvt." The Colonel replied.

Flint turns to the "crew". "You three all sure about going up again?"

"You "seven" still upset you didn't make the team?" Lady-Jaye asked back, trying not to recall how worried Flint and Bazooka had been.

"...I would have if someone didn't throw up on me." Flint mumbled, making her chuckle, and making Scarlett scowl.

"Snake-Eyes said he was sorry five times already; what more do you want?" She told him. "You shouldn't be talking anyway, Montgomery Snot." She added, reminding him of the zero-g segment.

"No need fer alarm, sonny; all o' these here rockets have been through a thorough inspection afteh da Challengeh disasteh." Senator Flim said next.

"And besides, since our space station had it's weaponry removed, this is our only option." Col. Sharp added.

Not that they reassured anyone.

* * *

While Ace's team was taking off, Major Bludd was setting up a mortar outside the facility where Airborne's brother was. After the shell landed in an empty area east of the main building, he races for a part of the southern fence and melted a few bars with a small torch. Once through, he makes his way to a circuit breaker and disarms the security system.

After breaking open the door with a crowbar, he looks around for any staff members. He finds one hiding under a table. "Huh; wh-what do...do you want?" The person asks him.

"Settle down, mate; I'm here for someone else." Major Bludd tells him. "Namely; where's the-"

"Nearest telepath?" A voice asked from the doorway. The Major and the staffer look at the speaker.

"That's right, i want ya to send a message to some Joes." The Major replied while pointing straight up. "This will teach that faceless dingo not to change me favorite movie."

* * *

Once everything was over, Duke has just finished speaking with the former Mr. C, when Simmons asked something. "What would we call you then?"

The actor stops posing and blinks. "Hmm; My real name's Will Perry, used to be called The Fridge back in high school, will that do?"

"First thing's first." Duke tells him. "The way we operate means you'll just be Green-shirt Perry; second, you need to survive one year with us; then, provided that you have the approval of any Joe acting as your squad leader, then you can take a codename."

'Perry' thinks for a moment, then smirked and reached a hand out. "Deal...sir!"

* * *

Chapter ten. Read and review.


	11. Downtime part thirty-three

Frontline News.

* * *

While the Joes were celebrating being once more able to rot their brains without Cobra's interference, Duke was in Dr. Rich's office explaining about what they've just been through.

"As I've said before, it's normal for anyone in a command position to feel guilt about sending others into danger so often." Rich told him.

Duke sighs and shakes his head. "It's not that i let them go, Ken; my problem is that-"

"Yes; go on?"

"I passed astronaut training before, so why fail this time; did i intentionally give up because of what happened last time i went?" Duke asked aloud while looking at the floor, thinking about how powerless he had been during the global blackout Cobra caused, and trying not to think of how close he was to offering a surrender.

Rich heads to a filing cabinet and pulls a sheet out. "You mean when Cobra took over the Delta station with those...fat-" He starts to say before Duke covered his ears and groans.

"I do not want to hear those two words again; took me, Breaker, Dusty, and Steeler...uh, the old Steeler; a month to stop avoiding Timber and the other guard dogs because of those whip snapping hairballs."

"Fair enough, i was stuck with six people in a cable car for two days during the pyramid incident; but would that mean Scarlett and Mutt feel the same way?" Rich asked, but Duke only shrugged.

* * *

At the same time, Zandar is in a bar in Sumatra when hears a voice behind him. "Still going solo, are ya?" He turns to see a mostly orange haired young woman.

"Zarana...When did you get out?" He asked her.

"About; nine hours ago." She replied. "It was tha craziest thing; this big fiyah ball came otta nowhere crashin' inta tha prison wall, me and a few otha's made a break for it, an' 'ere i am." She explained, then took a seat. "Zartan 'n his boys still workin' fer that wastoid with the shiny mask?"

Zandar shrugged. "They are; met him a year ago after running into some of those Joes in Africa. He gave me an offer to join, but i turned it down." He explained.

She nods before the bartender walked over, and she ordered some Tuak. "Heard about them; they a tough lot?"

"Being the only one of a five man group to survive; i should say so." He tells her.

"Hah, righteous!" She replied while flexing an arm.

* * *

Chapter eleven. Read and review.


	12. The Invaders part one

Frontline News.

Note: this will be the comicbook version of Daina.

Skymaster23 does not condone violence against women.

* * *

A month after Cobra Commander's mandatory memorial service at the just recently coal-free Terror Drome for the lost space station...and the forced memory suppression that followed...construction has finished on the organization's two newest "aircraft". He calls the other leaders to announce how he intends to use them, only to notice two are missing. "Desstro, where are thosse crimssson nitwitss?" He asked, pointing to the two empty chairs.

"They had a meeting with a Lithuanian trade official; one who refused to reschedule, my dear Cobra Commander." The arms dealer replied.

"Iss that ssso; too bad for them." The Commander said, and pointed to Zartan. "Go get your dissguisse and take the sssaucers immediately; operation: firsst contact beginss now!"

* * *

While that was going on, a Soviet squad is in the Saudi desert. "How long till Snake-skis show up, comrade Col.?" Horrorshow asks, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Should be any moment now." Col. Brekhov says, not bothering to look at him.

"Aw, you said that hour ago."

"And will say it hour from now; so keep watching sky, is order!"

"Bah, lucky Schrage had to get broken arm; would give kingdom to have done so instead."

"Quiet!" A few second later however, they see a small passenger jet approaching, along with three G.I. Joe Skyhawks, and a Chinook in pursuit. "Damn; Joe-skis must not get one-up on Oktober Guard, move it comrades!" Col. Brekhov orders, and they head for their jeep.

"Nu Pogodi!"

After ten minutes, the Soviets see the jet blow up. "Son of bitch; we lose all that sweat for nothing!" Daina shouted, only for The Colonel to raise some binoculars.

"I am thinking not, am seeing two crates with parachutes; keep going, Wong."

"Da, pardner." He replied. Once they catch up however, he points ahead of them. "Look; Snake-skis have Joe-skis penned* down."

"That they do, lets show them how job is done, yes?" Col. Brekhov suggested, only for a pair of large disks pass overhead. "...Or we could just let them do it." He added after the lead one fired on the Cobra pillbox.

* * *

Half a day after that, 2nd Lt. Boyajian (who long since quit being on Air Force One), is taking a stroll at his airbase when he notices an object approaching from the east, and does a double take when he sees that it appears circular. "What the heck i-shit!" He says aloud when a red light is sent out from it, blowing up a C-130. The sirens start going off after it fires again at two Conquest's and the fuel depot.

"Alert, base is under attack; all pilots, scra-!" A loudspeaker says, but is cut off when the control tower is destroyed.

* * *

While halfway to the Oktober Guard outpost, Barbecue looks over to the rest. "Duke, we got a message from headquarters."

"They altering the plan?" Duke asked while leaning over.

"...No sir, Colonel says the aliens just hit Los Alamos." Barbecue replied, bringing all eyes on him. Duke pounds the console, knowing the prototypes for the H.A.V.O.C., Tomahawk, L.C.V., and the Devilfish were there.

Anyone make it out? Snake-Eyes wrote, but Barbecue shrugged.

"To early to tell, friend; Beachhead's rescue team only just left to find out."

Duke then looks to Cutter, who nods and picks up a mouthpiece. "Engine room, all ahead full!"

* * *

In the pacific, Flint and his team has just landed on the Flagg. Admiral Ledger is waiting for them with a second one behind him. "Welcome aboard, Flint, Lady-Jaye." Admiral Ledger says.

"Good to be back, sir." Flint says, then glances to the other. "And you are?"

"Admiral Lattimer, U.S.S. Montana; i gotta say, it's a pleasure to finally meet you people...except that one." He says to them.

Lady-Jaye balks. "Here we go again." She says, only for Lattimer to hold his hands up.

"No, not you, Miss; I meant him." He tells her, pointing at Shipwreck, who is grinning nervously behind Footloose and Rock 'n Roll.

"Uh...hiya Admiral, how's it going?"

"A lot better without you to bother me."

"You still upset about that?"

"...You glued a fire axe to an aft turret gunbarrel to crack a coconut!"

While that was going on, Admiral Ledger clears his throat and speaks again. "Clay's been bragging to George about you Joes for years."

"Uh-huh; too bad it had to be due to this, sir." Flint replied.

"If you think this is bad, wait till i tell you 'bout the ultimatum we just got." The Admiral said, and lead them inside before heading to an intercom. "Ledger to bridge, status?"

"Nerka reported recently; still no sign of any anomalies."

* * *

Over in San Francisco, Sgt. Metzger and a group are moving through an alley. "Alright you lumps, we're gonna set a machine gun post on that hotel over-"

"Gunny, watch it!" A random marine shouts as he pulls him back.

The driver of the hummer that almost hit him leans over. "Watch where yer walkin', why don't ya?!"

"Why don't you keep your eyes on the road, you gob!" Metzger says back while dusting himself off.

"Gob, my ass; I'm a SEAL!"

"That explains the crappy driving!"

"...'Least i know not to walk 'n talk at the same time; friggen gyrenes always trying ta do two things at once."

"That does it, come on outta there!" Metzger yells, and is held back by his squad.

After the hummer speeds off, a voice on the radio speaks up. "This is Gen. Abernathy to Petty Officer Forrest..."

Half a mile from there, a troop transport is unloading a group of Green Berets. One of them turns around. "I still think this is a bad idea, sir."

"Noted; keep moving, men." His C.O. says, not even looking at him.

"Major, listen, we're massing too heavily here, the whole wes-"

"The whole west coast isn't what we've been ordered to worry about, now get back in line, Falcone; or maybe you want another insubordination charge?"

"No sir, sorry sir."

* * *

At the remains of Los Alamos, while Tollbooth and Roadblock are removing rubble with M.O.B.A.T.s fitted with cranes, Beachhead hears a voice calling out, and raises a hand. "Detail, hawlt...Cross Cantry, Quick-Kick; ah need a hand here; Blowtorch, git a medic!" He orders.

The three Joes move some more debris and find Mainframe and another worker alive. "Hey look, it's the jolly green giant...why're you so small?" Mainframe asks, still out of it a little from lack of oxygen.

* * *

In Moscow, the attack is underway. Daina, two Soviet soldiers, and Green-shirt Sikorski have been separated.

"Skoro jako příběhy mé tety**." Daina tells herself while shooting back at an A.S.P.

One of the Soviets spots an incoming Rattler which makes a strafing run, killing him and injuring the other three. As she crawls over to get Sikorski's rifle, a Blue-shirt presses a foot on her thigh before flipping her over.

"Il mio giorno fortunato, vero**?" The trooper says, and shoots the second Soviet when he tries to stand.

"Jdi domů jíst hovna**!" Daina shouts, and is kicked in the ribs before he drags her towards one of the A.S.P.s. She starts to struggle, having some idea of what the Blue-shirt intends, and makes him look back.

But when he does, she feels his grip loosen, and looks over to see him dead. She looks up to see Dusty crouching down. "You okay, missy?"

"Da; am fine, Joeski." She replies before he helps her up, but notices him staring. "What now?"

"...Heh, i~think~someones~blushing." He says, and she snarls at him.

"I do no such thing!"

* * *

Chapter twelve. Read and review.

*Misspelled on purpose.

**Almost like my aunt's stories./My lucky day, isn't it./Go home and eat crap.


	13. The Invaders part two

Frontline News.

* * *

On the bridge of the Flagg, a crewmen rushes in with a message. "What's that you got, Ensign?" The Admiral asked.

The young man gulps before speaking. "Urgent message, stateside; Capitol...under siege, requesting immediate close air support."

Hearing this, Flint growls and throws his beret on the floor. "So this was a diversion; son of a bitch!" While the other Joes are calming him down, they hear shouts and a thud, and see Adm. Ledger on the floor with a hand clenched at his chest.

"He's having a-get him to sickbay now!" Flint shouts, and Shipwreck and a random crewman take The Admiral below decks.

"So what do we do now, man?" Footloose asks, as he and everyone else looks to him for orders.

Flint hesitates for a moment before feeling his hand being grabbed, and glances to Lady-Jaye, who motions for him to step forward. "Order all ships to come about 180 degrees and proceed to Panama at flank speed. Since we're too far out, get on the radio to Joe headquarters, see if they've launched already; and tell Beachhead to meet us there, then get our Skystrikers prepped for takeoff."

The Ensign nods and grins, saying "Aye aye, sir." before leaving.

At the monitor room, Col. Sharp is replying to the Flagg's radioman. "Understood crewman; tell Flint that Ace, Recondo and Green-shirt Nash are one the way there already. Over and out."

* * *

While on the way back, Flint hears a voice over the radio. "Duke...What's your status?" He asked.

"Same as your's, tired and mad as hell." Duke replied.

"Haha, the fang faces find that out the hard way?" Lady-Jaye asked next.

"That they did, Lady-Jaye." Duke replies, only to be replaced. "Huh, wai-"

"Da, Oktober Guard has saved day again...perhaps Horrorshow can tell of how he-."/"Gimme dat thang, yuh damn Russian bear!"/"Take number, ugly; am speaking to lady with voice of songbird!"

* * *

Once the mess is over, Nash is with Cover-Girl, Bazooka, and Clutch looking for survivors, as well as any traps Cobra may have left. They are now looking through a grocery store and hear a voice from a toppled aisle. "Found seven." Bazooka says while peeking in the "tunnel".

"That makes 23 survivors since we started." Cover-Girl says, and takes the white board she had, which had 3 letters: S for survivor; D for Deceased which had 72; and L for Looters which had 11, before sending Clutch to the other side. Once they get the civilians free, one of them falls over.

"What's the matter, ma'am?" Nash asked her.

"I must have twisted my ankle, mahn." The woman tells him.

"Better send her to Doc...What's your name, miss?" Cover-Girl asks after righting another shelf.

"M-Mahia Wendigos, a transfer student from the C.A.S.E. in Jamaica." She replied while Nash puts her arm over his shoulder.

* * *

After the Joes have all returned to base, Col. Sharp has finished speaking with Gen. Abernathy and Adm. Lattimer about what they've just been through, and they start a different conversation.

"Did that agent you mentioned find out anything about that Cobra jet the reds captured?" Adm. Lattimer asked.

Gen. Abernathy shook his head. "Unfortunately, he was injured in the fighting; when one of the disguised buses exploded, his vocal cords were damaged by some glass shards. However, he did find a form describing a shipment of "aircraft components" to Volgograd." He told them.

"I see, Kapustin yar would be the place to send a plane like that, wouldn't it." Col. Sharp said aloud. "Aside from that, if there's one thing this mess reminds me of, it's the Washington flap just before i made Lt."

"I heard about that from a friend of mine who was with the Tophatters during Mainbrace." Adm. Lattimer told them. "You suppose we're really not alone...I mean, Cobra had to get that idea from somewhere, right?" He asked after resting his chin on his left hand.

The other two look to each other before Gen. Abernathy replies. "You're probably just overthinking it, George; there's absolutely no such thing as aliens."

"...Eh, i guess you're right, Clay." Adm. Lattimer said to him while leaning back.

A few minutes after the Admiral left, the other two call those Joes who were fit enough to head to the assembly room. "Joes, i have some good news and bad news." Col. Sharp tells them. "The good part is that The President, and the Soviet ambassador will be arriving to personally reward Duke's team for their efforts."

The Joes all stand and cheer...until the next part.

"As for the bad news, I'll let Gen. Abernathy explain." He said next, and stepped back.

"Thank you, Col.; Joes, due to the recent incident, i am transferring Beachhead for a special assignment." The General says, only for some of the Joes to start clapping.

"So whats the bad news?" Shipwreck asked, making Beachhead stand and roll up his sleeves.

"Turn meh loose, ah wanna see who's celebratin' when ah turn 'em intuh jellehfish!" He shouts while Flint and The Gen. hold him back.

"Is it always like this here?" The Gen. asked Col. Sharp.

"More or less." He and Flint reply after the Col. sighs.

* * *

Chapter thirteen. Read and review.


	14. Post-op part six

Frontline News.

* * *

Some time later, Adm. Ledger grumbles and slowly opens his eyes to see himself in a bed before they adjust enough for him to notice a person two yards or so from him. "Where'm i?" The person stops and turns to look at him before heading to a desk to pick up a phone.

"Dr., the Admiral just woke up." He hears, and watches the nurse wait at the door.

After a few seconds, a black haired young man enters and walks over to get the chart at the foot of his bed. "Good to see you're up, sir; how're you feeling?" The Dr. asked him.

"Like crap. Now get me up outta, the ol' dame's prab'ly worried sick by now, sonny. I'll bet they left that grandstander Overton in charge, been wanting my post for years; like hell I'm gonna..." The Admiral replied, but the two stop him from getting up.

"I think after a day and half, a few more minutes won't bother anyone, sir." The Dr. told him with a small grin.

"Eh, raggin-fraggin doctors, always think they know everything...So go on, spill it, what'd i miss?" Adm. Ledger asked while the nurse removed his IV and walked off.

The doctor adjusts his glasses and explains. "Well, like i said, you've been out for a day and a half after having a mild heart attack."

"I had a...Wait; it's comin' back to me now...I was on the bridge when we got word that...Washington, the damn poison ropes conned us into leaving it wide open...did we-" Admiral Ledger asked with a sneer.

"I'll admit we nearly did, Admiral; if it weren't for both the Joes and the Soviets, we'd have lost for sure." The Doctor told him.

The Adm. ran a hand across his head after sitting up. "...Both sides, huh...suppose that means some of us will be needin' to look for new jobs before too long, Dr..."

"Steen; I'm Doctor Edwin Steen." The young man replied.

* * *

Chapter fourteen. Read and review.


	15. Cold Slither part one

Frontline News.

* * *

A week after the congratulations ceremony, the Joe's intel team is doing it's normal rounds. Stalker and Lady-Jaye are going over reports from various countries concerning possible Cobra sightings, they hear Scarlett tell them the coffee is done. "Great, thanks...want some, Stalker?" Lady-Jaye asked while walking over.

"In a sec; i think...Aw yeah, baby!" He says aloud, not for the first time.

"Meaning?" She asks next with a bemused expression, while Scarlett removes her headphones and stands to see him holding some sheets.

"There's a good chance of Cobra doing or having something in the Karakum desert." He says, and lays the papers down. "See, this first one is of some Ferret and Stinger tracks going across their border with Iran, along with some that seem to indicate some sort of three wheeler."

"Three? Some new A.T.V.?" Lady-Jaye asked.

"Don't think so; the men who found the tracks said they were a little over 1 foot wide." Stalker replied, then showed them a second paper. "This next one is about Moray's in a standard guard formation for subs in the Caspian sea; while the third here is about two times that some Stingers were guarding a convoy southward entering Uzbekistan." The two women re-read the papers, and nod. "According to the latter, they were both spotted on a month apart, and the date in question is four days from now."

"There have been a few snake sightings coinciding with mysterious robberies in each point of origin, too...could be a connection, I'll go let The Colonel know." Scarlett tells them, and rushes off.

Eight minutes later, everyone is in the briefing room. Col. Sharp informs them of Stalker's find. "Joes, i have just been informed of a Cobra meeting place of some sort in Turkmenistan. The most likely purpose of the location is for storing stolen valuables, and we think that they go there the 2nd of every month, which means we have only four days in which to intercept the next shipment. The three of us have decided to send the following: Cover-Girl, Gung-Ho, Dusty, Thunder, and Cross-Country along with a fireteam* of Green-shirts. Are there any questions?"

Airtight raises a hand. "You said Turkmenistan right, isn't that in Soviet territory?"

"It is, but they're allowing our entry due to what we've been through last week so long as we take one of their officers along to supervise." The Colonel explained, and asked if there were any more questions.

"Ah gots one, sir." Cross-Country says. "Suppose we be needin' some air cover o'er dere?"

Col. Sharp thinks for a second before speaking again. "Any of our pilots wish to accompany them?" He asks, and sees Ace stand.

"I'm all in, sir."

"Good, now move out; best of luck out there."

The eight of them head off. "Yo Joe!"

* * *

Two days pass following the successful raid before Duke arrives in a V.A.M.P. with Roadblock and Col. Brekhov, along with a transport truck. They greet Dusty, Gung-Ho, and most of the Greens, and head in to the tunnel to find the rest of the squad lounging around in a room with steel walls. "Whoa, the snakes sure went overboard setting up this hoard." Roadblock says aloud as he and Duke watch Cover-Girl and Cross-Country resting together, the former wearing a few necklaces and rings, while Green-shirts Nash and Gonsalves are having a mock sword fight.

Duke taps a foot before Thunder notices him. "Uh-oh; you-you people ought to be ashamed of yourselves...hanging with Shipwreck too much, that's their problem." He says aloud, only to turn his gaze to his feet after Duke takes the crown he forgot he had while Col. Brekhov snickers a bit.

"Alright you had your fun, now drop the goods so we can take 'em back where they belong." The 2IC ordered while pointing his thumb to the exit.

* * *

At the Dept. of Social Services in Pleasant Cove, Mrs. Harris is hanging up the phone when she turns to greet a customer, only to shriek when she sees the person's familiar uniform. "Everyone down; Evan, call the-" She starts to shout, only for the person to hold his hands up.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, we're not here to bail you folks up; see, Cobra's gone broke, fair dinkum." Major Bludd tells everybody.

"B-but your-your uniforms." She says, noticing a line of them leading all the way outside.

"Yeah, about that; only those showoffs from Extensive are allowed to have plain clothes." Blue-shirt 2688 added.

* * *

In one of the residential levels of Cobra-La, The Commander (now without his head covering and 20 pounds heavier) is laying on his side, tearing at the leg of some animal when Pythona shows up.

"His Majesty wishes to know how long you intend to sulk about." She tells him; noting the pile of bones and ceramic fragments tossed about with disgust.

"Bah, forget the invasion!" He says, swaying the leg back and forth before stuffing himself again. "Hust Rhet foush Wemmows*...spend themselves to extinction, that'll show them not to be so dependent on all that paper and metal."

With a growl, Pythona swings an arm, melting The Commanders food with the acid from her nails. "You suggest such a thing again, and what's left of your face will be next." The Commander gulps and sits up. "Our psionic monitors have detected that the one you call Firefly has some ideas that will put your forces back to work; but it requires you to be present."

"Me?...I can't go anywhere like this." He says, poking himself in the gut.

"True; but much easier to fix."

"Really, how?" He asks...Much to his regret a few minutes later when being chased by two snake/slugs, five smaller creatures, and Nemesis Enforcer.

* * *

A day later, Zartan has accepted Cobra Commander's offer and reactivates his stronghold's disguise before turning to the Baroness. "Still, i have to wonder why you of all people would pick that type of music for this scheme." He says to her.

"Am i to understand that you didn't give her this idea?" Destro asks him after looking at the two a few times.

"She must have; I prefer Jazz, to be honest." Zartan told him, causing all three to stare at her.

"...Fine, i listen to it vhen you're not around, now can ve just go now?" She asks while rolling her eyes.

* * *

Over at Joe H.Q., after the "stray shot", Gung-Ho and Lady-Jaye both resurface. "Wut 'appened?" The former asks while rubbing his welt.

After taking the ball back from Alpine, he gives it to Lady-Jaye, who climbs out of the pool. "Next time, wait till the pools empty." She says as she tosses it back, only to see Snow-Job giving a thumbs up while the other three run away. "What's all that ab..out?" She asks herself before glancing down to find something missing. She lets out a shriek before folding her arms and jumps back in while blushing and tells Gung-Ho to hold up the floating bed she was on while she raises her bikini top back up.

"That was a good shot after all, wasn't it Barbecue?" Alpine asks aloud, grinning at both the view seconds earlier and at Barbecue as he covers his eyes with his chef's hat.

"N~ot me, i didn't see a thing jus' now."/"Shut up, jerkwad!" Barbecue and Lady-Jaye replied at the same time.

* * *

In Col. Sharp's Office, he is working on some forms when his phone rings. "Col. Sharp here." He says before standing up. He gets some binoculars and looks out his window to see Shipwreck, Footloose, and Breaker speeding away in the distance.

* * *

Chapter fifteen. Read and review.

*Just let those mammals.


	16. Cold Slither part two

Frontline News.

* * *

When The Colonel gets to the monitor room, Flint walks up to him. "We've got it under contr-"

"If you had **anything** under control, we wouldn't have three Joes facing desertion charges, and we wouldn't have an M.P. being placed in pre-op after getting struck by a stolen jeep; so get the hell out of my way, Faireborn!" Col. Sharp demanded, ignoring the glances. "Duke, status of our recon teams abroad?"

"We've just spoken with Recondo and Cutter's teams, none of them are missing; Asian branch reports all normal, too, so whatever caused **those** **three** to take off like that is restricted to the U.S."

"That's not helping my mood...Anything else?" The Colonel asked, pinching the area between his eyes.

"We've been overhearing calls from a couple other bases, Army, Navy, etc., all having the same problem that we and thousands of concerned civilians are." Stalker explained, while a screen behind him showed a bunch of lines slowly leading to a location at Keystone city.

"So where the hell are they all going?"

"...To a rock concert, Col." Duke told him. After being stared at for a few seconds, he asks where he's going.

"My liquor cabinet!"

* * *

After Cobra's ultimatum, the three female Joes are in their quarters after coming back from a fashion magazine company and are getting ready to go. "I still don't get why you picked...that...instead of dressing like us?" Scarlett asks while hiding her scars.

"It's so w-" Lady-Jaye starts as she is looking between a red choker and a black one.

"-so i can get Flint out of uniform later." Cover-Girl says, copying her voice as best she can.

"...No; it's because I'm still not ready to go formal after that crap Xamot put me through...now shut up!" Lady-Jaye told her before picking the red one.

After Cover-Girl apologized for the reminder, Scarlett joins in. "Here's an idea, why don't you make your uniform like that?" She suggests before putting on a pair of neon-green socks.

"Yeah, you'd~w~win us the war~in an in~stant." Cover-Girl said, barely able to keep a straight face.

"No way in hell, i get gawked at enough as it is." Lady-Jaye told them after blowing a raspberry at them.

"Come on, all you'd have to do is go like this-" Cover-Girl says again as she bends over. "And then like this-" She adds as she folds her arms and gives an exaggerated wink. "...And all those big blue chumps will give up so fast, it'll make Cobra Commander's hood spin."

Lady-Jaye pauses to think, but shakes her head. "Nah, that'd be too easy and would take away all the fun of making them cry for their mommies."

"Spoilsport; and what made you pick some magazine over our base's storage, by the way?" Scarlett asked next, and gets handed one of the factory's magazines on it's 19th page, where a blond woman was posing on a school desk. "That model again, what's her name?" She asks, and is told by Cover-Girl that it's Una MacBride.

"Remember when i mentioned staying at her house back during that stuff with the diners and rockets?" Lady-Jaye added.

"Oh, right."

Later, the three head for the elevator causing Flash, Blowtorch, and Wild Bill to walk into a wall, and causing Snake-Eyes to drop a box on Clutch's foot. While peering around a corner to see what all the noise was, Alpine takes his hat off to slick back his hair when he notices Flint exit the restroom and groans before getting an idea. "...Uh hey, Flint; i think i just saw another of those overgrown rats Cobra dumped on us!" Alpine says, seeing them stop and chase off Snow-Job and Ace for some unheard cat-calls behind Flint.

"Them...but we haven't seen any for 18 months."

"Well i just saw something run in that closet."

"...Fine."

Once Flint walks in, Alpine takes a rag and wraps it around his mouth before slamming the door and leaning against it. "Hey there; going out, ladies?"

"We're off to wreck that so-called concert, you know that." Cover-Girl replied before they hear pounding.

"Huh, what's that sound?" Lady-Jaye asks him while the trio look around.

"Must be the ducts or something." Alpine said, with a shrug. "Oh, and nice threads, L.J." He adds, mentally placing her new outfit above the dress from the Cobra perfume mission.

"Nice try, but no dice; these are work clothes, pal." Lady-Jaye tells him, but pats him on the shoulder as he gives a fake pout.

Only for him to do so for real once the three are gone.

* * *

As the three are leaving, Deep-Six is in his usual spot, and presses a button on his suit. "Rockmover to Tango Delta; three mermaids heading upstream."

* * *

After getting past the Cobra perimeter, Scarlett talks their escort into walking into a random room and breaks his neck before taking his rifle. When she walks back out, she and the other two look around.

"You should have asked him where the dressing room was." Cover-Girl told her.

"Well sor~ry, i couldn't stand his breath anymore, it stank to high heaven." Scarlett replied.

"So we split up?" Lady-Jaye asks, when they hear something above them.

"Awk, dressing room this way."

"Polly?!" All three ask after Scarlett lowers the rifle, and follow after the parrot flies away.

* * *

Once the speaker equipment is destroyed, M.P. Lavigne shakes his head. "Aw, feels like it's full of guacamole." He says before he stumbles into a person next to him. "'Scuse me, sorry...Wait, are those dog tags you got?" He asks, recognizing the chain around the person's neck.

"Sure are." The man says, and points to himself. "W.O. Vince Falcone, a Green beret; and you are?"

"Cpl. Lavigne, G.I. Joe: M.P. division."

"Oh, you're with those guys." Falcone mumbled. "What brings you here?"

"Three Joes went A.W.O.L., so me and some others came here to get them back, but we blacked out; how about you?" Lavigne explained.

"I was on break after P.T.; the next thing i know, I'm here with astroturf in my nostrils." He says while pointing downward, only to feel his arm get shoved. "What the...Well, hello there." He says next, seeing an Asian lady staring at him. "Who might you be, sweet-cheeks?"

"None of your business, jack." She told him, ignoring his feigned shock.

"Hehe; Pardon mi amigo here, Miss. You from around here?" Lavigne asks her while Vince scowls at him and folds his arms.

"No, but i have an...acquaintance who is." She replied before she hears some Parrot infront of her squawking. After seeing the curtain open, she notices the braggart turning around for some reason. "Not a music fan?"

"Not a fan of that two-legged cheese stick is more like it." He tells her, nudging his head back.

"Huh...You know Duke?" Lavigne asked him.

"Mr. perfect up there; half-brother, what's it to you?" Falcone asked him.

"Your related, that...is so excelente!" Lavigne replied, only to look back at the stage. "I take it back, the chica in the middle is." He added while pointing at Lady-Jaye.

"河野無頼漢*." The Asian woman says, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever...Just don't let Flint hear that." Falcone said next, making her narrow her gaze.

"Eh, he's not here is he?" Lavigne asks before ducking behind him.

* * *

At the same time in an unknown location, Gen. Abernathy is on his portable phone. "George, this is Clayton; I've just been informed that the situation's been dealt with."

"Good to know Clayton, so when can i expect those two sailors of mine?" Adm. Lattimer asked.

"Oh, around the same time it'll take for the one I'm missing to return to base...Hold on a sec." The Gen. says, hearing a commotion from a room behind him. Inside, he sees Metzger, Forrest, Morreli, Boyajian, and the guy Cover-Girl, Snake-eyes, and Spirit spoke with just before the earthquake ordeal in Japan, all watching T.V. too closely while MacBride and Beachhead are on the other side of the room.

"What're they doing?" He asks, pointing to the five men hooting and hollering at the screen.

"Droolin' laik a'pack o' dogs, General." Beachhead explained.

"Ah keep it down, you fag, we're watchin' some foxes." Metzger says, looking over his shoulder.

"Ah ain't got dat prablem, dammit; done told'ya ah'm married faiv' tahms!" Beachhead shouted.

While those two argue, The General leans over to see what they are so interested in, only to see Burnett wearing the last thing he expected.

"Clayton...Are you still there?" Adm. Lattimer asks.

"Yowza."

"Yezzir?...Clay, you feeling alright?" The Admiral asked next, mishearing the word.

* * *

At the Benton mansion, Jerrica is getting some chicken from the fridge when she hears a voice from her earrings. "Jerrica, i have been monitoring all continental media broadcasts; the Cobra plot has ended, now disengaging counter-signal."

"Okay, thanks Synergy."

* * *

The next day, while the three A.W.O.L.s are doing K.P. with Bazooka, Snow-Job, and Alpine, and while Flint and Lady-Jaye are leaving a hotel room in Keystone city after doing exactly what Cover-Girl mockingly accused her of, she and Cross-Country are on their way to The Joe's Place. "Dat was a rait fine tune yuh 'ad da otha' day, Coveh-Girl." He says to her.

"Well thanks; but i bet that's not all you liked." She replied, giving him a wink.

"Aw, yuh gat me, cawl fer a medic!" He said back. "Dat dress was a'most as pretty as you, darlin'." He added, only to pull over after she placed her elbow on the window frame. "hey, wut's da matteh, ah say da wrong thang?" He asked.

She glances to him after a sigh. "To be honest, i only put that stinking thing on because the other two did. I hated every second i had to wear it because of how much it brought me back to before i enlisted...because-because i was almost starting to miss those days, so i burned it when we got back." She said softly while closing her eyes.

"Well gee, Ah'm sorry; wish ah hadn't..." He starts to say, but she just grins.

"No, it's fine, it's over with; now why dun' yuh git dis thang movin', ah needs sum' eats." She says as the grin gets bigger.

"Can do, girl...Yo Joe's Place!" He says, and restarts the car as she repeats the last part.

* * *

At a house somewhere outside Enterprise city, Amber Phillips is getting back home. "Mom, dad?" She asks, and hears them run down the stairs.

"Amber, you scared us to death!"/"Do you have any idea what you put us through again?" Her parents both say while the three embrace.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry; but it wasn't willingly this time; i met with that Duke person, and he explained."

"You what...we told you not to-"/"Hush, let her finish." They say, and listen her to explain about how she and all the other missing people got brainwashed.

* * *

Chapter sixteen. Read and review.

*You reprobate.


	17. Who dunnit part one

Frontline News.

Skymaster23 does not condone violence against women.

* * *

Around 1427 hours, Deep-Six is headed for the commissary when he overhears Duke speaking with Flash. "-ng until the counter signal device can be made ready for testing?"/"I would say anywhere from 8 to 16 hours, sir."/"16...Oh, you mean without an all-nighter; never mind."/"That's alright."

He was alarmed at this, and turns to head to the barracks to make an emergency report. "Rockmover to Tango Delta, come in. Over."

"Tango Delta here, go ahead. Over."

"The Fisherman is getting New Headphones. Over."

"Acknowledged; transferring you to Conger Conger now."

While speaking with Major Bludd to convince him to quit his job at a parking garage, Cobra Commander notices a blinking light on the console. "One moment, Major, i have another caller; Yess, what isss it?"

"This is Rockmover, I've just found out that G.I. Joe is working on a way to negate subliminal messaging; orders?"

Cobra Commander sits up. "Find out what you can and make ssure they do not sssucceed!" He orders.

"Yes Commander. Over and out."

On his way to the lab however, he sees Green-shirt McCabe in the hall, and curses under his breath as she notices him. "Anaether fine day, isn't it, sair?" She asks after passing by Spirit and Tollbooth.

"Yeah sure, great, bye." He replied, and starts to go around her when she steps in his way again.

"Hold it, ye've been avoidin' me faer months now, I'd laek tae knoow why ye've been so distant."

Deep-Six starts to roll his eyes until he gets an idea. "Ok, you win; i have to get something for my suit in the tech lab, so wait outside when we get there."

"...Sure, see ye thaer, sair." She says, and walks away. A few minutes later, she is waiting outside when she sees the door open. But, when she leans in to look, Breaker backs up and falls along with a machine he's holding.

"Ah...Dammit, look what you did, lady; you have any idea how many hours of work you just made me waste?!" Breaker shouted.

"I'm sorry, sair, laet me 'elp wit' thaat." She replies, only for him to grab her wrist.

Some time later, Steeler is entering the lab to ask for assistance with an H.A.L.'s targeting system while grumbling about the Col.'s decision to retire the M.O.B.A.T.s and Wolverines. Seeing no one, he checks a side room, only to run out as fast as can and collide with Tripwire. "Ow; so this is what it feels like." He tells himself before helping the tank driver up, and tilts his head when the other Joe starts pointing frantically to the door.

"Th-th-th-the flo-floor...floor; body, Doc!"

"Steeler, Steeler...slow down, what do you mean "body", whose?" He asks, and is lead into the supply room where they find McCabe's body; she'd been strangled. While Simmons and Hudson enter the lab with a gurney, the other Joes comment on the scene.

"How am i suppose to say this to Rakel?"

"Who wo~who would do such a..."/"Shh, shh; she's in a better place now, Lady-Jaye."

"Ah dun' know 'bout yoo; but when ah find da l'il shit, ah'll grind 'em intuh algae."

"Just let me have half so i can make shark bait outta 'em."/"Awk, hangin's too good for'em."

While Duke tries to break that up, Col. Sharp talks to Flash, who is looking over what is left of the device. "Is there any chance you can repair it?"

"I doubt it sir, who ever did it knew what he was doing; we'll have to start all over."

While Flash leaves to do that, The Colonel turns to Tripwire while Steeler speaks with Dr. Rich. "You're certain there was no murder weapon, Tripwire?"

"No sir, just the marks around her neck." He replies, glancing at the other Joes as they watch the body get taken away in a mix of grief and anger.

"Breaker, i want the footage from that camera checked from when Steeler first entered all the way back to this morning." The Col. ordered after patting Tripwire on the shoulder.

"Yes sir, right away." Breaker replies and gets to work on the keyboard.

Once he's gone, Scarlett wipes her eyes and nose before looking over to Deep-Six. "How're you taking it?" She asked.

"Hmm; fine, i guess, why?" He asked back.

"Why?, Deep', she-Mallory was always going on about how she felt sorry for you." She said, causing him to get another idea.

"Scarlett's right, she kept going out of her way so you would know we don't want you to be so alone all the time." Green-shirt Singh adds while the other Joes agree.

Deep-Six however only taps his fingers against his arm. "So what; what was her decision, and putting up with it was mine." He says, inwardly grinning at their shocked faces.

Singh steps forward and pulls an arm back when she notices Quick-Kick and Airborne's eyes widening. She turns to see a paused image of the murderer dragging Mallory into the side room; and she moves again, only to be restrained by Green-shirt Perry.

Col. Sharp and Duke walk towards him while Flint waves the M.P.s. over.

"No, sir wait, this has t-"/"Save the explanations for the court...Breaker, you are hereby under arrest for the murder of Mallory McCabe."

* * *

Chapter seventeen. Read and review.


	18. Who dunnit part two

Frontline News.

* * *

While the other Joes were divided over the discovery, Doc was doing the autopsy of McCabe. He noted that there no defensive wounds, which was backed up by the scene of her being held down. He also noted that Breaker was not the best at hand to hand, but he assumed the extra strength was from the adrenaline rush; still, he was troubled by the fact that anyone, let alone a Joe, could have been capable of this.

Which was also being discussed everywhere else in the base.

Out on the rifle range, Blowtorch is with Zap, Mutt, and Ripcord. As he fires away at the plywood H.I.S.S.s, they talk about the scene earlier.

"I still don't get it, Breaker just isn't the kind of man who would snap like that." Zap says while reloading.

Mutt takes two shots into the tracks before speaking. "Aw, anyone can go rabid, it just takes the...right flea to show up and bite you."

"But without anyone noticing; he's like Deep-Six's opposite, he's never been alone in a room since this outfit started." Zap tells him, but pauses to say bathrooms don't count.

"Speakin' o' which, who else agrees thaat our diver was out o' line back thaer, i do nae blame th' lass faer wantin' tae flotten th' bahstard." Blowtorch said next as he reloaded.

"I agree it was kinda harsh...but he was probably just lying to himself." Ripcord said while shooting the turret. The other three all glance at each other before nodding and they resume practicing.

In Col. Sharp's office, Duke walks in and is asked how the call to Bennet went. "He was as shocked as we were but he offered to inform McCabe's family for us." He answered before sitting down. "Seems it still hasn't sank in yet because i asked Breaker to call him even though it was Green-shirt Lewinski." He added while running a hand down his face.

"...We have been over reliant on him over the years, haven't we?" Flint asked, looking down to the floor.

"I've informed Washington of the situation, but Gen. Abernathy kept stonewalling my request for a replacement." Col. Sharp said, mumbling and cursing about plots and conspiracies under his breath. "Perhaps our tendency to ignore the man; and all the double duty after Sparks resigned must have gotten to be too much for him."

"Maybe; but there is another potential reason, Colonel." Duke said, after considering all of the other opportunities Breaker would have had to double cross them like the time he and Mainframe* were putting the mini-satellite together, and when he had temporary control of the M.A.S.S. device and the Weather Dominator. He could have also given false direction for the spy satellite that landed in Africa, or the time just before the Solar farm ordeal, and the time he was alone with Scarlett in the Pit Viper.

"Such as?" The Col. asked, bringing him back to reality.

"It may have been related to the messages he, Shipwreck, and Footloose were affected by earlier."

"You mean he and the four M.P.s could still be under Cobra control?" Col. Sharp asked after leaning forward. "I'm not sure about that; Flint was in the same situation, why not have him do it?"

"Well...they must have added a new layer to it afterwards." Duke replied while shrugging.

"Back to the topic; the rest of the audience members must also be potential sleeper agents." Flint added, and started counting mentally. "Sir, we need to call the stadium and find out how many were there."

"I'll get right on it; Bre..." The Colonel started before cursing again. "Lewinski, i need you to make a call to the Keystone stadium..."

In Deep-Six's unofficial spot, he was listening through a connection to the intercom built in to his dive suit with a smug look on his face. He knew that this would mean the patsy would eventually be released, but also that he could continue his duty to Cobra uninterrupted.

* * *

Chapter eighteen. Read and review.

*Made up.


	19. TGALR part one

Frontline News.

Slightly a.u.

* * *

Six days later, Cobra Commander, Destro, and Scrap Iron are overseeing a test of a humanoid robot against a S.N.A.K.E. robot. "Begin." The Commander ordered, and the two machines start walking towards each other. The shorter one, armed with a standard machine gun is able to get some hits, but they bounce off, and is grabbed by the older model.

"Your new robot is hardly what i would call a thing "not to trifle with", Destro; considering what you based it off of." Scrap Iron commented.

But the arms dealer scoffs. "The Gamesmaster's "soldiers" may have been no more effective than the ones from his Funhouse-" He replied, pointing to the Commander. "But it is nothing compared to my android; see?" He says next, pointing out that the S.N.A.K.E.'s right arm has been severed, and it is now being lifted off the ground and tossed forward.

A captured machinegun P.A.C./R.A.T. is sent in next, only for the android to use it's predecessor as cover. "Unlike the S.N.A.K.E., which can only use pre-programed maps to lumber about like a wrecking ball...the Battle Android Trooper relies on mobility and G.P.S. to out-perform it's opponents." Destro added.

"I'll, uh, I'll give you that." Scrap Iron replied, seeing the Android tear off one of the gun barrels and bash it apart. "Whew, far out."

"It iss, issn't it; you have permissssion to commencce production on them, Destro." Coba Commander says, only for the three to turn when they hear the door open.

"Commander, one of the Crimson Twins is here, he said something about a plan involving the Alaska pipeline." Lt. Clay Moore reported.

"Again?; Very well, letss see what they have in mind." Once in his office, he is informed of what that is. "Buying a whole portion of the United Ssstates?!; None of us have the fundsss for that, and even if we did, there's nothing there of any value except the pipeline!" The Commander says aloud.

But Tomax wagged a finger. "Nothing that we would want...But the Soviet's would; we could acquire the territory and offer it to them in exchange for their allegiance."

"Hmm, that would reversse the current losssses for both of us, wouldn't it?" The Commander says, then points his cane at him. "But you ssstill haven't explained how to pull it off?" He asked, and is shown a photo of a heavyset man with a comb-over. "And thiss isss?"

"His name is Georgi Potemkin. We can arrange for him to invoke the Alaska Purchase with a replica of the great seal." Tomax explained as he placed a container on the desk, and opened it to remove a goblet with gemstones on it. The Commander examined the object before asking when would be the best time to head to Moscow to meet Mr. Potemkin, only to be told that he was living in New Jersey.

"What, why there?"

"The thing is, Mr. Potemkin isn't a politician; he's an...entrepreneur of repurposed automo-"

"Get out; you must think i wasss hatc...born yesssterday if you think a dead beat ussed car sssalesman can accomplissh anything!" The Commander shouted.

"But Commander...think of the advantage this could give us; if we set him up as the new governor, the Soviets could have a foothold and the American's full attention."

"...You do have a point, they would likely divert the paccific fleet to keep watch on their Soviet counterpart, but what of the Joes...I'll allow thiss, but you'll only have one company of our forcesss; now go before i change my mind!"

"You won't regret it, Commander." Tomax says, and leaves with the replica seal.

* * *

Two and a half days later, Duke is setting up his tent when he hears Frostbite on his left with his rifle drawn telling him not to move.

"Him too...When did he get compromised?" He thinks to himself as he reaches for his pistol. The other Joe fires a shot, and Duke rolls to return fire when he hears the brush snapping behind him. "Huh?"

"Bear; it was poking about for a good 7 minutes." Frostbite says, then helps him up as the other three Joes run up.

"Duke, are you alright?" Scarlett asks him, and sighs when he nods.

"Yeah, thanks to Frostbite." Duke says, and wonders if that could have been the same bear from the aurora mission.

* * *

In the Oktober Guard camp, Col. Brekhov, Daina, Horrorshow, and the other troops are being led to sleighs with cages on them.

 _"Hey, should not push; no pushing, Cossack!"_ Horrorshow shouts.

 _"Why you be like that, you worry will smother Kamchatka if rolling over?"_ One guard asks, making the others laugh.

 _"Will smother you, imperialist pig shit!"_ Horrorshow replied _,_ earning a jab to his back.

The Colonel and Daina scowl and struggle before the former sees one of the locals picking up one of their weapons.

 _"You put that back, is too different!"_ The Col. yelled to him.

The old leader of the Romanov soldiers walks over to the younger one and takes it before coming back. _"How is motherlander's rifle different; explain please?"_ He asks as he turns it over.

 _"It is AK-74, a multi-round assault rifle."_ The Colonel tells him.

 _"Multi-round...assault...like lever action?"_ The leader asks. The Colonel says nothing, so he turns toward one of the helicopters and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. _"Must be frozen."_ He says under his breath, unaware of the invention of the safety mechanism, before walking back to the Col. _"What more can you tell, why does hairless boar speak as if you are not from empire?"_

Col. Brekhov takes a breath before explaining. _"We are from political entity called Soviet Union, you would not know because was formed over 40 years ago after revolution in 1917."_

 _"Revolution?"_

 _"Yes; there was colossal war started in 1914, Tsar at time was Nicholas II, who was incapable of leading."_

 _"Why colossal, was all Europe involved?"_

 _"Europe, Asia, Middle east; even America, eventually."_

The leader held a hand up and spoke to his men before returning. "A _world war; must have been horrible."_

 _"It was; despite of then latest technologies, machine gun, airplane, tank...or perhaps because of them, death toll was in millions."_

The news shocked the men, the great country they had heard and dreamt of their whole lives was gone.

 _"I see; what of this, uh, union of your's?"_

 _"Oh, is much better, but only if you are model citizen; if you buy western items, you are arrested. If you watch or listen to western media, you are arrested. If you speak ill of government outside or in home, you are arrested. Is sounding good, yes?"_

A minute later, the three are in the lead sleigh. _"I answer all questions; why do we get arrested?"_

Daina glares at him while Horrorshow scoots aside. _"Colonel...Shut up!"_

* * *

While the attack is going on, the Baroness has broken the case holding the seal, only for Lukrov to aim a flintlock at her. _"Stop, seal is ours."_

 _"Bravery is respected, but seal is property of Cobra now!"_ She says while ducking behind a pew and drawing a pistol.

 _"You are from motherland, too; how can you do this?"_ Lukrov asked her.

She laughs in response. _"It means nothing, i am not the first to wrong my fellow Russian."_ She tells him, and stands. He hesitates for a second before firing, only to miss, allowing her to hit him in the leg. _"And i will not be the last."_ She is about to shoot again when she hears a window shatter on her right.

"Yo Joe!" Green-shirt Nash shouts as he charges.

She ducks behind another pew and gets her walky talky. "I need covery fire!" She yells, and the H.I.S.S. responds.

"Whoa...You ok there, Mr.?" Nash shouts to Lukrov.

"Have been better, thank you burnt one; but seal?"

"Burnt one?...Oh; this ain't soot, I'm an African-American; Sgt. Nash." Nash explained.

"My apologies, Sgt.; to you and to one called Roadblock." Lukrov says to him after rubbing his eyes, but he waves it off.

"Eh, no big deal, we just got to get that seal of your's back."

* * *

Chapter nineteen. Read and review.


	20. TGALR part two

Frontline News.

Slightly a.u.

* * *

As the rest of Col. Brekhov's men showed up to bring him, Daina, and Horrorshow back home empty handed, Col. Sharp and some other Joes arrived, Lukrov and the surviving villagers greeted them. "Welcome, Colonel Sharp, to Romanov village. Your men are great help in rebuilding efforts." He says, as they watch Duke's, and Brekhov's people working alongside the locals.

"You're welcome, Capt., it's the least we could do after all your people have been through; weathering a Cobra raid must be nothing compared to learning that your homeland is gone." Col. Sharp says to him before offering a hand.

"Yes, was most distressing to hear of empire's collapse; but if what you're subordinate says is true, perhaps Tsardom will be reinstated?" Lukrov replied as the two shake hands.

"While not everyone on either side will prefer it; Washington's analysts so far predict that could happen within the next five years." Col. Sharp added.

"While most of us will not be there to see it...when we get news of this, we will have second celebration; but for now, let us begin first one, agreed?"

"Agre...Most of you?" Col. Sharp asks him after glancing to Duke, who shrugs.

"I don't know either, sir." He says. "Have your people changed their minds about leaving?"

"No, will still keep to ourselves; but can send one of us to learn of changes firsthand...Anatoly!" Lukrov says over his shoulder.

The two watch as one of the local soldiers stepped forward. "Am Anatoly Fyodorovich Krimov; have volunteered to be scouting on behalf of village." The man says.

"Ok, and just so you know, we'll try to take it slowly." Duke tells him.

After they shake on it, the villagers begin a celebration. Roadblock is jotting down some of the local's old recipes as well as the "new" ones they invented in their isolation.

Tollbooth is teaching the villagers foreign construction techniques.

Airtight is "teaching" some kids some "lessons" until he is interrupted by Duke.

Shipwreck is introducing himself to certain locals until he is interrupted by Cover-Girl.

She, Cross-Country, Footloose, Dusty, Wild Bill, Crankcase, Heavy Metal, and Gung-Ho all dance with them, though not all succeed.

Flint is grumbling about how surly and bull-headed "that Stormavik guy" was, both groups having met on the way.

Lady-Jaye laughs at him. When he asks why, she rolls her eyes before offering to dance with him.

Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, Snow-Job, Mutt, and Quick-Kick show the locals new fighting skills.

Before the Joes return to H.Q., they gather in the village square. Lukrov, three commanders and Green-shirt Nash are facing the crowd.

Col. Sharp faces Nash. "Sgt. Nash, after being informed of your actions in the battle earlier, it is my privilege to give you a promotion; welcome to the Joe team." He says before the crowd starts cheering.

 _"You have our gratitude forever."/"Let us cheer American sergeant!"_

"Way to go, Clifton!"/"Yo Joe!"/"Woo-hoo!"

"Thank you, Col; everyone...just doing my job." Nash tells him.

"And for saving my life, Sgt. Nash; is my honor to award you Order of Saint Stanislaus." Lukrov says, and places the medal around his neck as the crowd cheers again.

"Have you already considered a codename, or will you leave it to us?" Col. Sharp asks him.

"I'll pick my own; thanks though, sir." Nash says, and puts a hand to his chin. "Lets see, Winter...too dull; Chill...nah; Ice-Man...Also too...How about Ice **berg** ; that sound good, sirs?" He asks.

After the three turn for a second, they nod. "We can accept; but the final say is your's, Sgt." Col. Sharp answered.

"Haha...Iceberg it is then." He replies, and with a few salutes, the crowd cheers for the third time.

"Three cheers for Iceberg, American hero!" The locals shout.

"Yo Joe, Yo Joe, Yo Joe!" The Joes shout, with the locals joining midway.

* * *

Chapter twenty. Read and review.


	21. Downtime part thirty-four

Frontline News.

* * *

After returning to Joe H.Q., Col. Sharp has Mainframe, who has replaced Breaker and Lewinski, get both Gen. Abernathy and Top Notch on the line.

"Abernathy here, what's the word?"

"The word, sirs, is snake skins; once the shooting stopped out in Alaska, Duke's team discovered Cobra's H.I.S.S. drivers wearing new uniforms." Col. Sharp told them before motioning off screen. The two watch as Grunt wheeled in a gurney with an empty dark blue vest with black tubes on the shoulders and the torso, a light blue undershirt and trousers, and a helmet with a mirrored visor that seemed too big to be necessary.

"Kore wa?...That helmet looks like what some of my troops have described a few days ago, they said some Stinger drivers had them on". Top Notch asked as he and Gen. Abernathy leaned forward a little. "What do you make of it, Gen. Abernathy?"

"Hard to say; is it just an aesthetic change, or is does Cobra have a new class of combatants now?" The General replied.

"Apparently the latter, Scarlett questioned some of the surviving enemy soldiers, but only one of them gave us a name; Motor-Viper." Col. Sharp told them.

Top Notch blinks before speaking again. "It seems we will have to make some additions to our Database soon."

"Agreed, keep us posted if you make any more discoveries, Colonel." Gen. Abernathy said next.

"Yes sir; over and out." Col. Sharp replied before the other two end the transmission. "Let's just hope Cobra doesn't have any more surprises for us." He added under his breath while taking another look at the enemy uniform.

* * *

Chapter twenty-one. Read and review.


	22. SITC part one

Frontline News.

Skymaster23 does not condone violence against women.

* * *

Sixteen days later, before leaving the Terror Drome to meet with a certain mercenary about an offer to temporarily be a decoy for her, the Baroness catches up to the Blue-shirt from earlier cleaning her sidearm. "You there; Trooper 2721, i vish to discuss something vith you." She says to her.

"What can i do for you, ma'am?" The Blue-shirt asks.

"Nothing really, this has to do vith the ordeal from earlier." The Baroness tells her as she leads the trooper to a corridor.

"Did The Commander order another attempt?" The Blue-shirt asks next.

"He did send The Twins aftervards; but that is a different matter, the real point is of your conduct."

"It is?; Did i do something wrong back there?"

"I'll say you did, you conniving little whore!" The Baroness thinks before stopping to reply. "It vas merely that you seem to have been too...enthusiastic in your gratitude to Destro."

The Blue-shirt nods. "Oh that, it was just because i have the same problem most of the other's here have; the lack of chances to take and give it." She says to her.

"I see...I might know of a vay to help vith that." The Baroness replies while placing a hand on a door handle. "After you, please." She adds as she opens it.

"Gee thank y-ooo...ow, why did yo-" The Blue-shirt asked, being shoved and tripped. Before she can fully look back, she hears chuckling from in front of her, and looks to see Zartan's three underlings leering at her.

"Feelin' a mite lonely, yah say?" Buzzer asks her as the other two pick her up and hand her weapons to the Baroness.

"'Ow's about ya let us give ya a hand or, um; 'ow many hands do tha three of us have all tuh'gezza?"/"...Six!"/"Woight; a hand or six wit' that." Torch said suggestively before the Baroness shut the door and walked off, grinning to herself as she heard the Blue-shirt's pleas to be let out became sobs, screams, and the sound of fabric being torn.

"Lack of chances?; Bah, she must have forgotten how she spread her legs for 4 of the Joes back vhen i was the commander." The Baroness thinks to herself before wondering how to get back at Destro when she sees Firefly walking a few yards infront of her.

* * *

While Lady-Jaye is a third of the way to Scotland, Gung-Ho is waiting in a dealership at Keystone when his name is called. He gets up and follows the accountant to his office. "Alright then Mr. LaF...er, how do you pronounce this?" The manager starts to say.

"Well, yuh gots tuh make da "I" sound like "eat"." Gung-Ho tells him.

"I see; according to our records, Mr. LaFitte, this is the fifth time you've been behind on your payments." The employee replies after looking at his computer screen. "And what would be the reason for the delays, exactly?" Gung-Ho scratches his chin before asking to use the phone. "Certainly." The employee says, only to grimace at the following conversation.

"Sir, ah'd like tuh know if ah kin explain a few thangs 'bout some uh'da missions ah've been on...Jes' wanna make sure nuttin ah'd tell 'im will get us facin' a firin' squad is all...None uh'da supeh dangerous stuff...No prob, Colonel." Gung-Ho says into the phone before hanging up. As he turns to sit back down he notices that the employee is nowhere to be seen. "Hey, where'd he go?"

* * *

Flint is pacing around his office. "You really believe this is some scheme to get back at you for the raid, don't you?" Duke asked, having entered to complain about the noise.

"It's the only reason i can think of for Gung-Ho, Lady-Jaye, and Roadblock to all get letters asking them off base." Flint told him.

Duke sighs and holds up three fingers. "There's a few holes in that; first, Gung-Ho has been behind on car payments since before he joined. Second, you didn't get one. Third, i already know what the purpose of this is."

"You did; what is it?!" Flint asks.

"It's so all the gray hairs from worrying about your girlfriend end up growing on me instead." Duke replied, grinning as Flint unfolds his arms and glares at him.

"Mock me all you want, but I know something's not right and I'm going to find out what it is if i have to swim there."

* * *

At the same time, Destro is approaching the manor and flinches when the door opens before he could reach the handle and sees an unfamiliar portly woman facing him. "Ye mus' be laird MuCullen." She, the Baroness, says.

"I am...Where is my regular housekeeper, Madam?" He asks, too busy looking past her shoulder to notice her breathing a sigh of relief that her second disguise worked.

"I see no one told ye yet me laird, Mr. Jernigan was killed in an automobile accident a few days ago." She explained while shaking her head. "One of ye cousins hired me tae take his place."

"Must have been that whelp Lamar, always leaving things half finished...A pity, Jernigan was an excellent worker and will be difficult to replace." Destro replies as he walks in, not noticing her gulp. "As for you; you seem to have done well enough, but i shall take a closer look."

"By all means; I will be attenden tae the upper floor, me laird." She tells him.

"Very well, Ms...What is your name?"

"Call me Ms. Bullard*." She says before walking up the steps.

While inspecting some of the furniture, Destro hears the phone going off and picks it up. "Hello?"

"Dinnae think yuir safe amongst kin, or ye find spears long as the night rainin' upon ye." He hears from the other end.

"Who is this; Hello...Hello?" He asks despite the lack of response. He slams down the handset, and puts the riddle aside until two days later when he watches the only person who fits into it exiting her room, and rushes to "replace" the portrait above the fireplace.

* * *

Before the ceremony, the attendants are getting their masks. While watching his aunt get the bird head, the new initiate is given a different one. He raises a brow as he turns it right and left. "A pink warthog; what the hell?"

The hooded man walks over. "The faerst Destro had tae wear one o' iron while still aglow; ye will wear the same if ye dare say more, boy." He tells the young man while sneering. The initiate nods rapidly and shoves the mask on.

* * *

"She will make good food for the beast."

After locking eyes with...whatever it was, Lady-Jaye hears a voice in her head. "Again; again they offer me only the deflowered."

"Defl...This thing can talk?" She asks herself before she sees the shaft dissolve into a black void. As she lowers her arms, the head of some yellowish reptilian creature appears. "Who...what are you?" She asks out loud. "And what do you know about my not being a...How about we just stick to the first question?"

"To those above, i am the wyrm of earth; before that, i can not recall." It replies. "What i do know is that which you know." It says again, before a circle of what seems to be the water from the shaft appears, showing a wheaten terrier going around.

Lady-Jaye blinks and leans forward. She starts to recognize it as the dog from when she was two. The scene then changes to more random events from her perspective of the next three years of her life, at a school playground, at church, a sunny field. She realizes these are her memories, and they are catching up to when she was six, when her mother was..."No! Not that...please stop it!" She screams, shutting her eyes and covering her ears as a woman is seen falling past the staircase's window.

While she is trying to force the image out, she hears what sounds like a crowd, and glances to see T.V. cameras. "My-My first audition." She says, and then sees a mirror on a locker showing her putting on a suit...Her first meeting Abernathy when he was still a Colonel...then Duke, Stalker, Gung-Ho, and Scarlett...until she sees Flint's face, and whispers his name before shutting her eyes again when she watches their first and nearly last mission in Albania. She then scowls and blushes as she looks away from the sight of herself and Flint during **that** **night** in his quarters. "You turn that off right now, you damn pervosaurus!"

"...I suppose i can show something else, spoiled one." It says, replacing the "puddle" with other faces of men and women.

"All of those...Destro...He helped you kill these people?" She asks as she looks at the hundreds, maybe thousands of long lost souls around her.

"Yes; aside from the occasional army thinking they could ever be a match for me, many Destros have served me well." It tells her.

"Many?, He's not the first?" She asked herself, noting to herself that she had no knowledge of, or reason to look into, his family tree before taking another look at the faces, and screams when she sees one in particular. "Haruna? You son of a bitch, you ate her!"

"Will you judge me for needing to feed as other living things do, mortal wench?" It asks her.

She bares her teeth and clenches her fists before walking toward it. "Judge you? Tha mi a 'dol a chuir thu air ais thugainn gu ifrinn ann an cruachan fola làn cruaidh**!" She yells, extending a hand, into which one of her javelins materializes before she rushes at the creature as it's eyes widen in surprise, but it manages to replace the void and return her to the shaft with her still dangling from a chain before hearing a loud voice from above.

* * *

"Stop!"

After hearing his demand, the hooded man and the others face the newcomer. "What reason have ye tae deny the beast, James?"

"I wish to know what **she** is doing here, Lamar; why here of all places." Destro replied cryptically.

"You speak as though you've seen her before." The deer masked one says aloud.

"Unfortunately; but she is soon to be one less thorn in the side of one of my best customers." Destro tells him before he turns toward Lady-Jaye to question her. "How did you learn of our secret chamber?"

* * *

Onboard the Flagg, Duke shakes his head after hearing Flint's check-in. "Seems i owe him an apology."

"Nevermind that, Duke, you have to head out and make sure those two make it back first." Col. Sharp tells him.

"Seconded; the cargo jet's ready and waiting for you fellas to board." Adm. Ledger added.

Gung-Ho and the other Joes nod. "Da Colonels rait, Duke; muh clan'll raise all hell if dey find anotha' hono'rareh member was K. wit'out da I.A."

And by the sound of it, we better find them fast. Snake-Eyes wrote.

"You said it, friend. Come on everybody, topside, double quick; Yo Joe!" Duke tells both as he heads for the corridor.

* * *

Chapter twenty-two. Read and review.

* Based on a nickname, means Fraud or deceit.

** I'm going to send you back to hell in blood soaked chunks!


	23. SITC part two

Frontline News.

* * *

After stopping in the area outside the McCullen manor's yard, Duke orders the Joes to rest and let Doc and the village's medic check them for injuries. Hearing that reminds Lady-Jaye of the fight in the tunnels. "Oh god! Flint, your hand!" She says to him while pointing and covering her mouth.

"I'm fine, it was just a-er...ok...not a scratch." He says once he finds half of his right third finger shot off, and winces as he takes his glove off and presses down on it until Doc walks up.

"How long has it been since this happened?" Doc asks him while getting some iodine.

"Probably somewhere around 12 to 18 minutes; can't give you more than that, my wat...gah!...my watch broke when this big explosion took out a tarantula back there about the same size." Flint explained.

Doc looked over to the manor for a second before putting a bandage on his hand. "I'll let Airtight know about that later; Just keep this on." Doc tells him, and glances to Lady-Jaye. "Come find me when he over does it...On second thought, how're your feet?"

"Huh; aw, i left my slippers in there." She said to herself while Flint complains about Doc's remark. While Doc leaves for another patient, she lowers her head.

"Something wrong?" Flint asked.

"St-fro-m-." She says under her breath, causing him to lean over.

"Pardon; i couldn't make it out." He asked next.

"I said stay away from me~e." She said in a louder voice. Flint blinked and tilted his head before reaching for her shoulder, only for her to smack his hand. "No...Cùm air falbh*!" She shouted, and starts to run from him, but trips over some stone fragments from the manor.

Flint gets up and rushes to her side. "Lady-Jaye, what's gotten into you?!" He asks while her struggling attracts Doc and some others.

"Brownie?!"/"What in tarnation?"/"She done lost her marbles!"/"Back up, back up; give her space!" Cover-Girl, Wild Bill, Cross-Country, and Spirit say.

"Stop it! I said let me go!" She says loudly.

"Lady-Jaye, please, you have to calm down...Alison, can you hear me?!"

"Outta the way, Flint, she's in a state of shock; i need you and Short-Fuze to hold her down so i can give her a sedative...that means now, dammit!" Doc ordered when Flint hesitated. Once the injection takes effect, he gives Flint the go-ahead to try again.

"Lady-Jaye; can you tell me what happened?" He asks her.

"Uh-wha...Flint?" She asks, and latches onto him once her eyes get their focus back. "Flint; that thing~that~that monster...it was horrible."

"Monster?"/'What's she talking about?"/"You must have, like, given her a bit too much, Doc." Quick-Kick, Barbecue, and Footloose say.

"Do you, uh, mean the spider; i thought that was Scarlett's phobia?" Flint asks her, doing all he can not to look down.

"Not that,~i mean from~the well, didn't you see it?" She asks him while looking up at him.

"No i was too far to see the bottom. Why, was there something down there?"

"Well...No, forget it. Must have just been the fumes from whatever that liquid was; either way, thanks for getting me out of there. I hope this damsel in distress routine is over; it's getting too damn monotonous." She explains.

"Maybe, but what about that big spider we both saw those screwy animal guys ran from?" He asked while pointing to the ruins.

She takes a second to think, but shrugs. "Must have been an animatronic; they just ran off to wait for it to show that it's "fangs" were just machine guns or something." She says before sighing.

"What now?" Flint asks her.

"It's about something i was told of before you showed up...I...I have to leave; to resign." She replies, shocking everyone.

"Resign...What for?" Duke asks her while trying to calm the others down.

"Because...I'm one of those god damn snakes, a...i can't stay with you...or better yet;~goodbye." She says, and takes Duke's pistol and puts it to her head.

While Cover-Girl screams as Cross-Country turns her around. "Dun'cha look, Darlin'!" He tells her.

Duke and Doc rush over and hold their hands up while Flint can only stand paralyzed. "Hold it, stop, don't do it!"/"Easy there, Lady-Jaye, you're not thinking straight; so please...just hand that over nice and slow, and we can talk it over, okay?"

While she is backing away in her confused grief, Quick-Kick tosses one of his gas shurikens, causing Lady-Jaye to lower the pistol while coughing, allowing Flint to tackle and slap her. "You stupid crazy bitch, don't you ever do that to me again!"

As she rubs the mark on her cheek, she moves both hands over her eyes and starts crying. "~I'm S~orry; I was...I don't-"

"I am too; but what's happening...Please, tell me...Alison, let me help you." Flint asks as he puts his arms around her.

"...The manor,~it was..." She starts to say.

"It was Destro's." Flint finished.

She nods and looks to the other Joes. "I'm...a McCullen; i can't stay with you guys with **his** rotten blood in my veins!" She screams before looking to Flint. "Agus chan urrainn dhomh a bhith còmhla ribh; Chan urrainn dhomh gràdh a thoirt dhut." As she stands up, he does so too. "Flint, please; you have to let me go!" She whimpered while struggling, albeit lesser than before.

"Cha dèan. Cha b 'e McCullen a thug mi dhomh fhèin cuideachd; agus chan e McCullen a bhios mi a 'fàs sean leis." Flint whispered in her ear while caressing her back, making her heart skip a beat. "Thug mi fhìn gu Alison Burnett; Agus cha bhithinn ach a 'fàs sean còmhla rithe.*"

"Tha mi ag iarraidh sin cuideachd, Dash." Lady-Jaye says as she sobs in his chest.

* * *

While she and Flint return to Rhona's house to confirm the connection, Destro is in Glasgow for the same reason when he is stopped by a policeman who notices the glint from his mask and draws his sidearm. "Stop; ye mus' be daft if yuir thinkin' the yard be lettin' the likes o' ye walk the streets?"

Destro rolls his eyes before raising his hands. "I am quite aware of what the penalty is; but i assure you i am not here to harm anyone, i only wish to access the genealogy records at the city hall to confirm something i have recently been informed of."

"Do ye now; why should i believe thae likes of ye?" The officer asks. Destro pulls out his own pistol and crushes it in response. A few dozen minutes later, he is being presented some old books.

"'E-ere you go, Mr. Destro, the shelf was a pig's breakfast, but i got it...Enjoy." The employee said before rushing off.

Destro shakes his head with a huff before going through the pages. After going through five books, he finds a document from 1371 detailing the marriage of Maighread McCullen and Eoghan Burnett to settle a trade disagreement.

The find causes a sinking feeling in his guts...the woman whose brushes with death he occasionally had a hand in...who he attempted to make a mutation of...carried McCullen blood?! Once he got over the feeling of shame in himself, he requests a copy be made.

On Christmas day, Stalker takes the mail for him and the girls from the Moes. "Ho ho ho, ladies...speaking of which; L.J., you got any relatives in Glasgow?"

* * *

Chapter Twenty-three. Read and review.

* This can be translated with Google translate.


	24. Downtime part thirty-five

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Conan the Barbarian or Dirty Dancing.

* * *

When Destro returns to the Terror Drome, he is greeted by a Tele-Viper, who tells him that he was sent to inform him that Cobra Commander has been holding off a staff meeting until his landing. "This way, sir." He said, his visor showing the same words.

"Very well. Did he say what it was about?" Destro asked. He already had a good idea as to what the answer would be, but wanted to be sure anyway.

"No; just that you should attend, or else." The Tele-Viper replied as they two left the hanger.

Once he enters the main conference room, Cobra Commander speaks. "Now that we are all present, let usss begin; the Baroness has informed me that a ccertain sssomeone has a disscovery he would like to sshare with us."

After scowling at her, Destro stands and tells them what happened. "While i was attending a clan gathering, i found an unexpected "guest" on my property."

"To whom do you refer?"/"Did your mistresses meet each other again?"/"Do you mean to say you had a child at some point?" Storm Shadow, Zartan, and Dr. Mindbender all ask, until Destro shakes his head.

"No, this has far more serious complications, gentlemen; and Zartan." He says, ignoring the Dreadnok leader's gesture. "I have found that i have a familial relation, albeit extremely distant, to the G.I. Joe operative Lady-Jaye."

Except for the Baroness, the sub-leaders all discuss this turn of events before one of them raises his hand. "Does this mean we have blackmail material on her, Commander?" Firefly asks.

"Yes and no." The Commander replies, surprising all of them.

"No...Vhy not?; Ve can use this to not only force her to resign, but perhaps even force her to join us." Dr. Mindbender asked next.

While Destro hand twitches at that under the table, Cobra Commander reminds them of how often Lady-Jaye has been been in and out of their grasp. "I am ssstarting to think that at some point, the Joes may have taken advantage of it; a ssseries of feints to expose all those bases we lost, not to mention Sscrap Iron's little "Number of days since" calendar in the motor pool." He exclaims. The aforementioned agent whistles to himself while Cobra Commander leans forward and points infront of himself. "Know thisss; as of thiss moment i hereby order you to avoid capturing Lady-Jaye as well as the other two enemy intelligence operatives, Scarlett and Stalker, is that understood?"

While the sub-leaders confer on the decree, the Twins both raise a hand. "How are we to extract..."/"...anything from them, then?" They ask, causing Dr. Mindbender to stand.

"You let me handle that, i have been experimenting with a new method for extracting information recently..."

* * *

Four days later, M.P. Lavigne is granted leave time, which he spends by heading to Rhode Island. After knocking on the door, he is greeted by a man with short blond hair. "Yes...Wait a sec, aren't you that guy Alyssa keeps telling us about?" The man asks when he leans closer.

"That's me, hombre, Chris Lavigne." He replies, only to get an angry glare.

"Get your el asso off our property, you fu-"

"Thomas, back off right now; that is our sister's friend!" A third man shouted before letting him in. "Sorry about that, Tom's never gotten over how he couldn't make it past bootcamp; anyway, she's in the T.V. room...Almost forgot, I'm-"

"Dwight; she mentioned you two."

The two enter the room to see her on a couch watching Dirty Dancing with subtitles while her wheelchair is folded up against a wall, making him remember how she described her losses as a bombstrike to the gut. Dwight taps her shoulder, and she gets a smile on face when she sees who has shown up. "Chris, you should have called!"

He smirks while getting out a pen and paper, but is interrupted by Dwight. "No need for that, we were all shown how to do sign language; thanks anyway, though."

"De nada man. I'll just stick to some codenames for some "co-workers" I'll be mentioning, that alright?"

When Dwight tells him ok, he writes Good new/bad news since last letter...Bad news first. He tells her about how he was hypnotized while trying to arrest the aforementioned Joe and his two accomplices.

"Oh that, we saw it on the news." She says. "Along with **somebody** pointing at **a certain lady** on stage." She added, causing Chris to look away nervously at her mock glare and Dwight's real one. "Dwight, you were staring at Scarlett, so knock it off." She says next without looking; when he asks how she keeps doing that, she replies: "In-tu-i-tion."

She is then told about McCabe's murder, and covers her mouth. "He did what?!" She yelled before she grabbed his collar, making him explain how Breaker may have been in the room, but it was still Cobra who did the deed. She is also told that he was sent to Leavenworth and got replaced by some reservist from Los Alamos. "So it's down~to just The Main Three~and nurse Simmons?...Those goddamn snakes better be glad i can't fight anymore, or I'd skin them all alive!" She growled while wiping her eyes on her sleeve. After nodding, Chris goes on to tell her about Duke's mission to return Alaska to the U.S., that the production sites for the new vehicles are two/thirds finished, and about the discovery made about Lady-Jaye and Destro. "She's his cousin; that's awful." She said out loud.

He then says that she's still seeing Rich about it, and that she's doing "mucho mejor" now. He tells her before mentioning that it seems that one of the PX workers, the one who got replaced by a Crimson Guard agent was also killed.

"Haruna, i thought the Chinese got her?" She asks him.

He shakes his head and tells her that maybe they and Cobra made a swap or something, and that Destro has some other relatives that he meets with every winter solstice and do some sicko Conan the Barbarian stuff where they drop people into an old well that Lady-Jaye said made her hallucinate about some monster before Flint busted her out. He then tells her that after Ripcord and Iceberg found Haruna's purse in a chest full of items belonging to all the people they killed in a shed on the property, Duke had the well closed off with a cement cover that had a bunch of symbols Spirit carved.

"...I see; how did Lady-Jaye take it?" She asks next, and is told that Lady-Jaye doesn't know about that part since it was happened after she and Flint went to her aunt's place to go through some family records.

She then asks what the good news is, and he says that he and Order are now the senior K9 team after Callaway resigned. "Good for him; Order, i mean. Is he here, by the way?" She asked, but he says that Order was getting his annual check-up. Following that, he hears a song* from the film and points to the T.V. while mouthing the lyrics.

She nods in realization and joins in. "-wear it's all the truth and i owe it all to you..."

* * *

At the same time, Gen. Abernathy is walking back to his office when he sees another General mumbling to himself by a water-cooler. "Something wrong, Llewelyn?"

"Just that stupid boy called asking on some musician's behalf if i could tell him about any red-haired vets named Martin, some crap about him screwing some Vietnamese girl back in '76 and now his kid is looking for him." 'Llewelyn' tells him.

"...Is Martin the first or last name?" Abernathy asks, barely able to hide his disgust.

"They don't know and i don't care; but i have been able to find two Mr. Martins so far, one named Leonard while the second is an Andrew." Llewelyn replies.

"Well i can give a third, Martin O'Carolan." Abernathy tells him.

"Oh, a subordinate?"

"Not one of mine; he was in a prison camp i led a raid on after the war ended. They must have done a real number on him because he had short term memory loss."

"I see, where's he now...for that matter, how come you're bringing this up?" Llewelyn asks him.

"Because i think i know the other musician you mentioned; one i owe an apology to for the "Watchdog" fiasco." Abernathy explained.

* * *

Two days after that, in California, the young man who met Heavy Metal and the original Grunt during the giant produce incident is doing push-ups in his apartment when he hears a knock at the door. "Who is it?" He asks.

"Wild West Hauling; we have an order for a trash compactor for..." An older man in overalls says. "Is your name spelled right on here?"

When the resident leans over, the delivery man takes a taser and zaps him with it. He then opens the box, showing a copy of the unconscious person. Hours later, the real one is being shook by the apartment manager. "Aw, my head...wait, nevermind; where the hell is he?!" He asked while looking around, only to stop and realize his team's coach and a police officer are there too. "What's all this-get these off me, i didn't do nothing!" He says while being cuffed.

"Don't bother playing dumb, Dave; you know exactly what this is, you busted up four players from the visiting team." The coach tells him.

"Did not, i was K.O'ed by some bastard who said he was a delivery man. Ask him." 'Dave' explained, only for the manager to say no one like that showed up.

After the police car left, the manager pulls up a sleeve to show a mini-radio. "L-71 reporting..."

* * *

Chapter twenty-four. Read and review.

*I've Had, The Time Of My Life.


	25. TNPLS part one

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: will be slightly A.U. at the end.

* * *

The day after the welcoming party for Mainframe that ended with Shipwreck, Rock 'n Roll, Cross-Country, Blowtorch, and Steeler brawling over a football game, and Snow-Job and Mutt getting a R.A.M. stuck in an A.W.E. Striker, Scarlett is listening in on Cobra comm traffic; some about munitions tests, some recruitment ads, and Xamot ordering new office furniture, but then she hears a frantic voice. "Hello...hello, can anyone hear me?, I'm Professor Mullaney, and I've just gotten out of a Cobra facility somewhere."

Scarlett looks around to see herself alone in the room and silently curses before responding. "Assuming this is for real, what does this facility do?"

"Oh, for the love of...It's MB 47, an R&D site for chemical weapons, i nabbed the radio off of my "escort" and shoved him off a cliff, so it's only a-" He says until barking is heard in the background. "We're running out of time, young lady, just trace this signal, hurry!"

After identifying the origin point, she calls Col. Sharp, who calls the monitor room. "Mainframe, I've just been informed that Cobra is looking for an escapee on the British side of the Maldives...i want you to check all U.S. and European missing persons files for anyone named Mullaney." He ordered.

"Yes sir, gimme a sec." The newest Joe says. A dozen minutes later, he calls back. "I did one better for you, sir; i hacked Cobra's systems and found the name in a prison roster, apparently this Mullaney went missing a week or so before Dr. Massey was abducted. Because the former was a chemist instead of a biologist, he was almost killed, but Dr. Mindbender interv-."

Col. Sharp looks at the handset with irritation and cuts him off. "Outstanding; only i didn't order that, did i."

"Um...no?"

"That right. I don't know how they did things at your last post, but we follow orders to the letter, man; is that clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir."

"Good; be aware that you can forget your next paycheck for that." Col. Sharp tells him.

"...Yes sir."

After hanging up, The Colonel calls defense minister Pope to request permission to cross into their territory.

* * *

After the Skystriker exploded, Flint and the other Joes watch the Flagg's rounds be joined by additional fire from out of view. "Those tracers aren't from us."/"Where's it coming from?"/"On our left, there's a frigate joining in!" Torpedo, a random deckhand, and Alpine all say, the latter from up on the ship's island.

"Nice, but lets thank them inside, move it, move it!" Flint tells them. Once the last one is in and the hatch is closed, he starts counting heads. "Price?"/"Here."/"Reynolds."/"Here."/"Ripcord...Ripcord?; Blanchet, go check if he came with in a different group."

"Aye, sir."

As the crewman leaves, Torpedo speaks up. "So we're down by two now, Flint?"

"Don't say that, we just have to wait for the fire crews before we can prove anything!" Lady-Jaye said, backing him against the wall with her glare. It was all she could do to avoid thinking how all she could do was stare while the S.H.A.R.C. went down with Shipwreck still inside.

"Awk, hold your seahorses, hold your seahorses." Polly says.

"You ain't helpin' bird, so amscray before...somebody turns you into curd." Roadblock replied, pausing as the ship was rocked from another blast outside. As the parrot fled, Flint shook his head.

"Still, Lady-Jaye's right, the only thing we can do is wait for Blanchet and the Admiral's all-clear; whichever is first." While they were accepting that, the intercom is heard. "Duke to Flint, Rattlers are retreating; head to the bridge if able." Once he arrived, he saw Duke speaking with Ledger, who motions to him. "Hmm...Flint; the ship's doctor gave us Blanchet's message, he's in the infirmary for a bruised knee, by the way."

Flint nods and asks if he or anyone else saw Ripcord leave the flightdeck, but Duke and Adm. Ledger glance to each other before Duke answers. "I'm not going to enjoy telling you this, but the HMS Alacrity's crew found some debris from the jets we lost; part of...part of Rip's flight-helmet was with it." After sighing, Flint tells them about Shipwreck.

After a huff, Ledger picks up the mic. "Radar room, get a fix on that S.H.A.R.C.'s transponder." He says, then turns to the radioman. "Contact Sharp, tell him what happened, then send word to Cmdr. Barton to put some divers on standby."

"Aye Aye, sir."

Not long after, Col. Sharp is in line at the commissary when Mainframe calls him over the intercom. "I'm here, Duke; What's this i hear about you scrubbing the mission?" He asks his 2IC, and watches Lady-Jaye walk up.

"We found Dr. Mullaney, but only temporarily; it's-it's all very complicated, sir." She tells him with a sad look on her face.

"Tempor...Just explain as much as you can, please." He tells her while the Joes behind him all comment on what might have happened.

"Well, he told us that Cobra wanted a formula that can destabilize H2O, then put a little quarter-sized thing on Shipwreck's forehead to do a "memory transfer" according to-" She explains until Airtight shoves his way past Recondo and Heavy Metal.

"Hold it!; You mean that Shipwreck, of all people, knows how to make water explode?" Airtight asks her, making everyone gasp.

Lady-Jaye shakes her head. "I have good news and bad news about that. The good part is that it's in Ship's unconscious and Mullaney told me a phrase to unlock it."

"And, what's the bad news." Col. Sharp asks.

"Sir, both Mullaney and Shipwreck are unaccounted for; and guys...Ripcord~he's dead."

* * *

Chapter twenty-five up. Read and review.


	26. TNPLS part two

Frontline News.

Slightly A.U.

* * *

"Ripcord~he's dead." Lady-Jaye tells him. "His Skystriker and the rest were taken out by this big black and grey jet that was with the Rattlers."

The Joes behind Col. Sharp all share a look of shock and uncertainty at the idea. Losing a Green-shirt was one thing, but none of them knew how to react to hearing that since it had been a long time since one of the main force had been lost.

"No way; the damn scaly's actually killed one of us?"/"Has this ever happened before?"/"Not unless Clutch, Grunt, and Steeler's predecessor's are dead wherever Flint left 'em."/"Predec-oh that, i forgot." Recondo, Iceberg, and Short-Fuze say to each other.

"That must be the same aircraft Top Notch's people discovered." Col. Sharp thinks. "Can you confirm that he's dead." He then requests, and Duke steps forward and shows a fragment of flight-helmet with half of an "o" and an "rd" on it.

"The Alacrity's divers found it after she helped drive off the Cobra fighters, sir."

After slowly nodding, Col. Sharp speaks again. "Hmm; that would explain Airborne's actions a while ago." He and the Joes behind him look down in mourning. Once they look back up, he explains that Airborne entered his office to say that he saw an image of Ripcord in some seat making a blocking motion for a split-second.

Some of the ones behind Duke however didn't take it as well. "What, that asshole knew and didn't warn us?!"/"Alpine!...At ease, that's an order!"/"He only sees things as they happen, not before."/"Shut up, i don't give a shit!"/"Bazooka, Roadblock; get him into the brig to cool off." Alpine, Adm. Ledger, Flash(from stateside), and Duke all say before the latter looks back.

"Sorry about that, sir."

"Nothing to apologize for, Duke; We'll notify his family and turn over his personal effects. Other than that, what about Mullaney and Shipwreck?" The Colonel asks.

Duke steps back for Lady-Jaye. "Mullaney disappeared after we were attacked by a Firebat; there were no remains, so if he is alive, god help him."

"...Did you find out anything else from him, Lady-Jaye?"

"Yes sir, he says the last ingredient is being kept at Temple Alpha."

Hearing those last two words, Col. Sharp thinks back to the time after Shipwreck and Gung-Ho's rescue of Dr. Renault.

Flashback.

He and Gen. Abernathy are watching Breaker, Mainframe, and Morelli go over the database of "Sandcastle", the codename of the "fortress" they found.

"Is there anything in there about this structure?" He asks.

Mainframe looks back at him and points a thumb to Morelli. "We got plenty after Luigi here broke into their systems."

"Luigi?!"

Gen. Abernathy rolls his eyes before speaking. "Nevermind that; what is this place called?"

"According to this, we're in Frontier Drome 23. It's one of a series of forts with something called the Terror Drome as the main one, but that one's location isn't on here." Mainframe explained, pointing to the word REDACTED.

"Keep digging, it's in there somewhere; anything else?" Col. Sharp asked next.

"I saw a list of locations in Cobra Commander's personal files, but i got shut out before i could click on them; seems he's been coming and going from a place called Temple Alpha, like after that mess with the giant produce; when he replaced some of the Brass; a few days before he drew himself on the moon; and before that robot sea monster appeared." Breaker tells him.

"Terror Drome...Temple Alpha...Are they the same site?" Col. Sharp asks himself.

End flashback.

The Colonel then asks her about Shipwreck. "He ended up getting trapped in the S.H.A.R.C. when the Rattlers and that other jet attacked...The canopy must have been damaged, because it sank a little too quickly. It was too dark to tell; but it's possible he's also alive because his transponder is still moving, so an enemy sub must have taken his aboard."

"I see; we'll have the Delgado's informed as well...Ledger, hold position; Duke, leave the search to those of us here."

"You don't want us back?"

"Negative; Cobra may already have half of Mullaney's secret, so I'd rather not risk having the rest of it be intercepted, go down with the ship if you have to, but keep that password from being used. Col. Sharp out."

* * *

At Joe H.Q.

While Col. Sharp is informing Gen. Abernathy of Ripcord's death, Ace, Airborne, Wild Bill, and Green-shirt Sikorski are in the hanger.

"Who would have thought Rip' would be the first of us to go." Airborne says first, only for Sikorski to cut in.

"No offense, but don't you mean second?"

"When Grand Slam died?; Sure, but that doesn't count, that was just from a snafu back when the Mauler was still in the testing phase." Airborne tells him.

"Oh; got it."

"As we were sayin', a flightdeck ain't no place fer a pilot tuh meet his maker." Wild Bill added.

While they start reminiscing, Col. Sharp calls Sikorski to his office. Once there, he is asked to take a seat. "Before we begin, i wish to offer an apology for interrupting your discussion just now."

"Thank you sir." Sikorski replies, and watches The Colonel lean forward.

"Now as for why i called you here; due to the losses we were dealt, we will need a replacement for Ripcord." He explains.

"Me, sir?"

"Yes; The General offered someone under his command, but the severity of this situation means we can't wait for him to arrive."

"Is Shipwreck getting one too?"

"Because his status is merely M.I.A., i see no need unless his body is found; getting back to the matter at hand, your codename will be Lift-Ticket...Welcome to the team, now head to the quartermaster for your new uniform."

"...Yes sir, thank you sir."

"Dismissed."

* * *

The next day, Jesse is in music class practicing a Lute when his teacher walks over to him. "Yes, Mr. Reynolds?"

"Jesse, the principal just called; he says to head to the office."

"How come?" Jesse asks him.

"Haha, you're~in~trouble." Another student says aloud.

"Nicholas, be quiet...Jesse, He mentioned that it's about an uncle of you-Jesse?!" 'Mr. Reynolds' says, and steps back when Jesse runs off.

He reaches the office to find the principal speaking with a man in army clothes he doesn't recognize. The principal notices him and speaks first. "He's here, Sgt."

"Who's this, Mr. Grant?" Jesse asks, but the stranger answers instead.

"Mah name's Beachhead, young man. Ah'm here behcawse dere's been an accident involvin' yer Uncle Shipwreck."

"Beachhead?...You're a G.I. Joe like he is?" Jesse asks him.

"Yes ah am; ah'm fowth in command of 'em." He's told.

"Oh...Uncle He, i mean, Uncle Shipwreck's not hurt or anything, ~is he?" Jesse asks as his eyes start watering.

Beachhead kneels down next to him. "Ah'm afraid we dun' know at present; he's currentleh missin' in action, and ah ain't authorized tuh say anymore den dat." He says, and pats Jesse's back. "Dun' fret, sonneh; we got da best people lookin' fer him even as ah speak."

"Ok...Thank you, Mr. Beachhead, sir."

"Anytime, naw get back tuh whicheveh class yuh were in."

* * *

Chapter Twenty-six. Read and review.


	27. TNPLS part three

Frontline News.

* * *

At the same time, Gen. Abernathy is walking up to a porch in Columbus, Ohio, he knocks on the door and hears footsteps from inside. "Hello...Something happened to my son, didn't it." A man his age says to him.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Weems." Gen. Abernathy admitted, and the homeowner lets him in to have a seat.

"You won't need to beat around the bush if that's what your planning, General." Mr. Weems tells him before pointing to an old photo of a man in a Silent Drill uniform.

The General looks back to him. "Very well, Mr. Weems; I've been informed that your son was killed in action last night, but exactly how is classified..."

* * *

While that is going on; after "killing the Springfield penitentiary's warden and family", 2688 is tossing **something** on the floor while a woman with short blond hair is resting against him. "That...That's some **initiation** you blueberries* have...makes me wish i signed up...as one instead." She says to him as both catch their breath when they hear the intercom.

"Cadet Demming, report to the..."/"Springfield medical center..."/"as soon as possible."

"A~nd so does that." She says while sitting up.

2688 nods. "Yeah, that gets annoying after a while." He adds.

"Don't go anywhere, stud; I'll be back for another **injection.** " She said while walking out to the hallway.

* * *

In the Flagg's brig section, Alpine is washing his face when Torpedo and a random crewman show up. "Can i put in a request for better accommodations...This suite's too bland, and there's a problem with the T.V." Alpine asks them.

The crewman leans over to Torpedo. "Think he's been in there too long?"

"Nah, he knows." The Diver tells him.

"And that's the problem; I'd settle for one of Mutt's doodles at this point." Alpine added before asking what he missed. A few minutes later, the two join the other Joes in the galley. "I see what you mean." He tells Torpedo when he sees them still being affected by the mission's outcome.

* * *

In the assembly room of Joe H.Q., Col. Sharp is announcing their next move.

"Joes, i know you are all still deeply troubled by the blow we took last night, but Cobra won't sit on it's hands for us to recover from it, so we must get back on track." He says first. "There's a slim chance that they have Shipwreck and doing everything they can to get Mullaney's formula out of him, so we need to move first; Stalker has managed to identify a Cobra platoon in an old German fort in central Cameroon; close enough to reconnoiter and far away enough not to seem like retaliation...but to ensure the latter we will unfortunately need to wait a day and a half." He says next, and turns to Stalker and motions to the audience once they stop their shouts of irritation. "Take your pick."

Stalker nods and chooses Recondo, Tripwire, Footloose, Tollbooth, Rock 'n Roll, Crankcase, Thunder, and Lift-Ticket, who points to himself.

"You, uh...you sure you want to pick me so soon?" He asks while glancing around, only to smirk and grind a fist against a palm before Stalker can reply. "Heh, just messing with ya; let's go mash up some snake-breath!" He adds, and he and the other 7 walk out and head for the shooting range as Deep-Six secretly relays this.

* * *

After all the practice and the flight over the Atlantic, Stalker's team and some Green-shirts exit the transport planes alongside the 2 Sluggers, 2 V.A.M.P.s, a Bridgelayer, and a R.A.M. cycle they're taking.

"That's all of 'em; how long till we move?" Crankcase asks.

"Not quite, there's still one more piece of equipment for this." Stalker tells him.

"One more...like what?" Thunder asks, and the team leader points over Recondo's shoulder.

"That." He says, and they all look to see a light-brown and green helicopter with two 5-bladed main rotors a dozen yards away from them.

"A flying tater tot?" Footloose asks while they head towards it.

"If you must know, it's called the Tomahawk." A man wearing a tan and green uniform, a black beret, and with a radio on his back says. "And I'm Cpl. Morelli; Gen. Abernathy sent it and me to break into Cobra's systems in the likely case that the enemy troops won't talk."

Stalker's team turn to him to complain about having to babysit some dweeb from the puzzle palace, but back down when Morelli mentions that both The General and Beachhead are listening. "Let that be a lesson to all ya, ya cocky little shits; now we're gonna go over the plan again before we move out." Stalker says, and lays out a map on the ground. "Thunder, you and Tollbooth man the Sluggers a mile back...Crankcase, you take the R.A.M. and lead any vehicles they may have to where the Sluggers can knock them out, got it?"

"Will do, sir."/"Right, sir." They reply, and he continues.

"Footloose, Rock 'n Roll; you two take the V.A.M.P.s and wipe out whatever's left while Tripwire, Morelli, Recondo, and i break in to find any intel...Once that's done, we just wait for Lift-Ticket; understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Then lets get this show on the road, yo joe!"

"Yo Joe!"

The group makes it's way to their vehicles, but unaware they've been watched the whole time. "Capt. Moore, Rockmover was right; they just got on the road." A random M.P. says into a mini-radio in his collar.

Two miles from the target, the Bridgelayer is extending it's gear while Footloose goes on about comicbook heroes. "-having your superpower be living flame is the worst ever; any sprinkler system would get in the way." Green-shirt Beck rolls his eyes, causing him to see movement on the right. "Aw shit, take cover!" He yells after 4 strange looking vehicles with three wheels and two double barrel guns burst out from some fake hills. "What the hell are those!"

"Someone ratted us out!" Tripwire shouts as he and Footloose jump behind one of the Sluggers and start shooting back.

"I can see that!" Stalker yells as a pair of Green-shirts start one of the V.A.M.P.s, only for it to be blown up. "Fuck; Morelli, call Lift-Ticket right now, we need air cover!"

"Sure, we figured this'd happen, so there's a couple birds been following us." Morelli tells him, and gets a hand-set out. "Dial-Tone to Bravo Tango; execute plan b!"

"...What the hell's goi-" Stalker asks himself before being interrupted by the sight of one of the Cobra vehicles being struck by a rain of bullets from somewhere above, the source soon revealing itself to be one of the forward swept-wing jet Airborne "introduced" them to. After a second jet hits a second three wheeler, the remaining two bid a retreat.

While the other Joes are celebrating the sudden save, Stalker pulls Morelli up by the arm and shoves him against the remaining Slugger. "Not to be an ingrate, but i want some fucking answers and i want 'em now; who~the hell~are you?!"

* * *

Chapter twenty-seven. Read and review.

*More interservice rivalry.


	28. TNPLS part four

Frontline News.

* * *

After the fires are put out, Morelli fills them all in on the situation. "There's two parts to this; first is that Gen. Abernathy and Beachhead have been training a handful of new Joes for a while now."

"And you're one of them...What'd you call yourself again?"/"Dial-Tone, sir."/"R~ight...bullshit!, You let us run right in to this just so you could get a few fucking pointers?!"/"No, no, no; we only suspected they would be waiting for us, not where or how many." Stalker and Dial-Tone say while the others watch and sneer at the new person.

"And why didn't Col. Sharp mention this?" Rock 'n Roll asks.

"That fits into the second part; he doesn't want Cobra to find out that he's going to be resigning soon for medical reasons." Dial-Tone explained.

The Joes all look to each other in surprise. "Resigning?"/"Medical?"/"Does this mean Duke's gonna be in charge again?"/"And how would the fang-gang find that out?"

"Are you telling us that there's another spy in headquarters, Mor...Dial-Tone?" Stalker asks him. "Don't tell me it's the guy we're here for."

"Hard to say; but first thing's first...It won't be Duke in charge, it'll be Gen. Abernathy...as for why, it's because of a case of lung cancer he's been hiding, which not even Doc knows...his staff has been slipping him fake x-rays...As for who the mole is; some time ago, Mainframe came up with new programs to increase how many frequencies we can hear and when testing it out, he discovered a transmission from someone in the base calling himself "Rockmover"." Dial-Tone explained.

"Rockmover, huh?" Crankcase asks as he and the other Joes look over menacingly to Tollbooth, who looks over his shoulder before pointing to himself and waving his hands horizontally.

"Nuh-uh, not me; i ain't the rat!"

"I'd agree with him since "rockmover" is also a type of reef fish; the Novaculichthys taeniorus." Dial-Tone tells them.

"Novac...whatever; that narrows it down to Cutter, Torpedo, and Deep-Six...who come to think of it, has been acting odd ever since that time we lost contact with him during that mission involving those dinosaurs Dr. Massey was forced to make." Stalker says aloud.

* * *

On the Flagg, Adm. Ledger, and Duke are below deck overseeing the repairs to the ship. The former forces a small grin seeing his crew hard at work.

"You seem awfully cheerful, considering what we've been through." Duke says to him.

"Just going down memory lane is all." The Admiral replied, and pointed to one crewman checking a weld. "Last time i saw this much damage was when i was that boy's age back at Bali...Bal...some port at Borneo back in '42 when i was an ensign on the Paul Jones***; i still hear it sometimes...the explosions, the shouting, the screaming." He says.

"That's war for you; but getting back to this one...How much is left of the Skystri-hmm?" Duke starts to ask when Barbecue shows up.

"Duke, word from H.Q."

"Did they find anything out about Shipwreck?"

"No; Stalker took a team to Cameroon, but hit a snag because of Deep-Six has been spying on us."

* * *

An hour before that, Stalker turns to his team. "Tongue twisters aside, we still got a mission to carry out; salvage what you can and mount up."

They patch up the 2nd V.A.M.P. and the R.A.M. before speeding off, and find several wrecked vehicles, most like the ones they fought off; but another piece was different, a chunk of metal with six wheel, one on the from and back with two on each side. Beachhead and a blond haired man walk over with the latter speaking first.

"Look who missed the fireworks."

"Can it, McBride...Wut da hell kept yuh, da snakes blew up awl dere computehs while y'awl were dawdlin'!" Beachhead says to both.

"Up yours, Sneeden; we were late because of those overgrown tricycles-" Stalker tells him while pointing left. "-came of nowhere...we lost 7 men, both Sluggers, a R.A.M., and one V.A.M.P."

"Ah dun' give a rat's ass; 'n ah oughta have awl'a yuh tossed in a dumpst-!" Beachhead said next, and was cut off.

"That's enough...Both of you, at ease." Gen. Abernathy tells them.

While those three are talking, the rest of Stalker's team looks around at the mess when Tollbooth runs over to a vehicle he recognizes.

"Isn't that..."/"Sure is, almost as much of a beaut as Sally is." Thunder and Tollbooth say as they examine a blocky vehicle with a seat on top inbetween two Vulcan chainguns and two smaller guns under the armored cabin**** which swings up to reveal Metzger inside.

"Ooh Rah...what do ya think of the-"

"The H.A.V.O.C.; i should be asking you...I came up with it, after all."

"...Oh, so you're Tollbooth; good to meet ya, I'm-"/"Numb nuts."/"Go kiss the camel, squid...Forget him, he's just pissed because i took out more snakes than he did." Metzger and a man in a navy seal uniform with puffy brown hair say.

Back with Stalker, Beachhead, and The General.

"You're certain it's Deep-Six?" The latter asks the former.

"He's the most likely one, sir...He was missing for hours back then; plenty long enough to be replaced or put under their hypno crap." Stalker tells him.

"Alright...Dial-Tone, get Sharp on the line."

* * *

At Joe H.Q., Col. Sharp is in the monitor room getting his orders. "Understood, sir...Mainframe, seal off all the exits; no one gets in or out."

"Yes sir...Attention, all personnel; Headquarters is entering lockdown, this is not a drill." Mainframe says as he punches buttons, then hands the mic over.

"M.P.s, find Deep-Six and detain him; if he resists, shoot to disable, i want him alive."

* * *

Chapter twenty-eight. Read and review.

*Carriers do have them; i looked it up.

**Just added him.

***Made up.

****The H.A.V.O.C. in this story does not have the big glass canopy; it's more like the Mobile Battle Bunker from 1990.


	29. TNPLS part five

Frontline News.

* * *

As the M.P.s begin the search, Col. Sharp is watching their progress inside and out.

"Maderna here, all sniper teams ready and waiting."/"Lavigne reporting; he's not in the secondary hanger, moving to primary."/"This is Berkowitz, third floor armory's clear, sir."/"This Huynh on floor five; he not in rec-room*."/"This is Mutt in supply room five; no sign of him, heading to the Chaplain's place**." He hears from a few of the monitors.

"11 minutes already...where is he?" Col. Sharp asks under his breath while glancing at the door behind him where Flash, Scarlett, Gung-Ho, and Frostbite have set up a cross-fire position when Mainframe gets his attention.

"Machine shop!" He says, enlarging a screen showing Deep-Six standing over a body before taking the soldier's pistol and shooting the camera with it.

"Damn; attention, we have a man down in machine shop two and the suspect is now armed, proceed with caution." The Col. says over the intercom, but notices movement on another monitor. "...Mainframe; screen 4, pan to the right." He says, and sees Snake-Eyes making a bee-line for the location. "Col. Sharp to Snake-Eyes, stop right now; do you hear me, that's an order!"

But the demand goes unheeded as he races past two random M.P.s. Inside the room, Deep-Six hides behind a stamping press before a small explosion is heard from the door. Seeing no one, he looks elsewhere, and just barely manages to avoid losing part of his head to Snake-Eye's sword. "You wanna die next, huh; fine by me." The diver says.

The ninja lets body language be his reply. "How long have you been against us?" He asks by pointing the blade at him.

"You must be wondering how long this has been going on, but you're not gonna find out that easy, pal." Deep-Six replies before firing three shots at him.

"You killed McCabe that day, didn't you; why?" Snake-Eyes asked with an unseen scowl.

"Why get all riled up...cause of that euro-bitch?; She wouldn't stop looking over my shoulder, so good riddance." Deep-Six said, causing the only real Joe in the room to charge him with a flurry of slashes, damaging a few pieces of equipment. "Aw, that's gonna cost you; but you can pay for this first!" He said next as he picked up and swung what was a lever from a forklift, just barely missing his face but not his visor, which is forced off. Seeing what is underneath causes the diver to cringe. "...Holy god."

"God?" The diver hears from behind him. "He ain't where you're going, asshole."/"Wait, how did you-" The speaker and Deep-Six say to to each other as Col. Sharp and all the Joes rush in.

"Suspect disarmed; move in and surround him!" The Colonel says as Short-Fuze, Dusty, Gung-Ho, Grunt, and Cross-Country rush in, and while Scarlett hands Snake-Eyes a blindfold for temporary use. Once Deep-Six is led out, Col. Sharp heads over to one of the Green-shirts. "Good thing he was too overconfident to notice your return." He says to the man in question, who turns out to be Breaker.

"It sure is, sir; and good to be back."

* * *

"And there ya have it, right out of the Colonel's mouth." Barbecue explained.

"Ha, serves that sucka right; must have been outta sight."/"Neat'o."/"Let's make sure to give Breaker an apology for the hard time we gave him."/"And a few "welcome back" drinks at the clubhouse when-." Roadblock, Bazooka, Torpedo, and Lady-Jaye all say, having been called to along with Alpine, Airtight, Cover-Girl***, and Wild Bill*** by Duke to hear the full story before Green-shirt Perry interrupts.

"Duke, we jus...just found Mull...Mullaney." He tells them while catching his breath.

"Mullaney's alive, where's he now?!"

"Still topside being checked by Larivee and Flint." He tells them, and flattens himself against the wall as Roadblock and Lady-Jaye rush past him.

Once reaching the flightdeck, the pair see the old chemist being tended to. "Seems i have some more guests." Mullaney says aloud as he points them out to Flint.

"Professor, what happened?" Lady-Jaye asks him.

"Eh...Oh, it's you again; didn't recognize ya." He replies after squinting his eyes. "Bet i had ya goin' there after the Houdini act back there; to think i was under the impression you did that to me!"

"Forget that; How'd you get away?" She asks again as she crouches down.

"Well, after giving you up for dead, i went all around to each hiding place i could until i found some washed up metal from that fight i saw...not sure if it was yours or Cobra's; but anyway, i made it as sea-worthy as i could to get here." He explains.

"It was a LANTIRN from one of the Skystrikers we lost; our mechanics hauled it up before you got here." A random sailor mentioned.

"One of those, you mean?" Mullaney asks, pointing to the three remaining jets. "They anything like a Lancaster?"

"Lancaster...dude, today's birds are way faster." Roadblock tells him while snickering.

"That's a shame; used to be a navigator with the RCAF****, you know."

"And-" Flint started before noticing flashes out of the corner of his eye.

"Flint; come here and look at this..."

* * *

After hearing Shipwreck's story, Lady-Jaye ran off, and is seated against what's left of a church's wall with her face against her knees when she hears footsteps behind her.

"Kinda fitting that I'd find you here." Flint says cryptically as he plops down next to her, but she shows no reaction even as he puts an arm around her. " **T** **hat** wasn't because of us...Alison?"

* * *

Chapter twenty-nine. Read and review.

*No offense to any Vietnamese readers.

**Finally added one.

***Just added them.

****Made up.


	30. Aftermath

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Armored AutoGroup.

* * *

At the sound of her name, she looks skyward. "Can you be-would you...if i..."

"No...Would you want me too; to move on?" He asks her, and brushes her cheek. "Even if i did...I'd never love that person more than i love you now, Alison Fai-" He says, but she turns away.

"Quit saying my name." She whispered. "I love you too...but not so loud, they might find out."

Flashback.

The two are on a bench in the backyard of the Burnett residence after going through the family record.

"So it's true; what should i do now, Flint?" She asks him.

"It was 600 years ago, just put it aside." He replies; only for her to stand up.

"Put it aside?, How do you expect me to ignore having an enemy arms dealer in my family tree?" She asks.

"Well...you don't have to shower with Armor All?"

After a few seconds to catch up to the subject change, she doesn't stop laughing until he stands and slips his left hands fingers amongst hers.

"And you could be a Faireborn instead." He says softly while taking a small black square out of a pocket with his right.

She steps back while covering her mouth once she sees it, trying to figure out how something like that can be more frightening than anything else she's faced, yet also making her want to rip it open at the same time. "You mean~you~you want...But Flint, we can't; not after we've broken the regs so many times already." She says, thinking back to each time they dared being as close as possible.

"But we're the only Joes for miles, Lady-Jaye; nobody will find..." He says, stopping as the box is taken out of his hand. Flint instinctively pulls Lady-Jaye towards him before noticing that it's Snake-Eyes.

"...When did...Duke sent you, didn't he?" She asks the Joe ninja, who turns to face them and nods.

"How much did you hear?" Flint asks while half considering going for his pistol, only to see that its not there, which he guesses was more for his safety than anything else.

Snake-Eyes looks at the two before dropping a smoke bomb. A few seconds later, Aunt Rhona, Uncle Fergus, and two others show up. While Lady-Jaye is explaining, Flint finds the little box on the bench's armrest next to his sidearm, and a shuriken which is pinning a piece of paper to the wall. After reading it, he shakes his head before handing it to Lady-Jaye.

Nothing to report...treat her well or I'll tell Gungster*.

Half a day later, the two are in the living room next to a priest cousin of hers. "By th' power inveasted in me, i now pronounce ye..."

End flashback.

* * *

At the same time, Col. Sharp is in the monitoring room speaking with defense minister Pope, Maldivan president Gayoom, and Top Notch; belatedly informing the former and latter of Ripcord's death, and all three of Stalker and General Abernathy's findings.

"Concerning the former, the British government offers it's condolences, Colonel."/"As does mine; your subordinate will be posthumously awarded by my people."/"And by all the Joes here in Japan; i am willing to transfer one of my operatives to compensate." They tell him; the latter via interpreter. "However, the idea that Cobra has a new high speed A.T.V. is something i find distressing." Mr. Pope added.

"I agree; air patrols of the eastern most Soviet, Korean, and Australian forces have reported sighting vehicles matching the images Gen. Abernathy shared of these "Stuns" near suspected Cobra locations...And what of the "black jet" your ship commanders mentioned?" Top Notch asked Mr. Pope and Col. Sharp.

21 hours after Stalker and Duke's teams return, Airtight hears his novelty apple shaped phone ringing. "Airtight, what can you tell me about those samples you recovered?" Col. Sharp asks him.

"I've done all i can to prove otherwise; but there's no mistaking it." The Joe chemist told him.

"An organic synthoid...It's a damn miracle that one containment vessel survived all those explosions." The Colonel says.

"Absolutely sir, the amount we recovered is more than enough to create a method to track any clones that Cobra have abroad; though they may just end up recalling them anyway." Airtight replied.

The Colonel raises a brow at the middle part. "How long would it take to come up with that?"

"How long...Well with that new guy with the whiskers, I'd say two or three days; and that's if we don't need to requisition parts from off-base."

After sending a letter to Mara informing her that he would be skipping a few of their monthly meetings and four days of avoiding his friends and teammates, Shipwreck is in Dr. Rich's office again. This time, though, he watches Rich and an orderly wheel in a microwave sized machine. "And that is?"

"A little something I've been working on with Doc, Mainframe, and Dial-Tone whenever they had the time; it'll emit an inaudible signal to the part of your-"

"Aw, get that shit out of here; the snakes spent two days playing psyche-out with my brains, no way in hell I'm...gonna...gonna-" Shipwreck yells before collapsing.

Dr. Rich turns the machine off before taking some earplugs out and heads to his phone to inform Doc that it worked.

* * *

3 days later, the Joes are in the assembly room watching Flash walk up on stage with some device on his wrist. Dial-Tone gives an explanation. "What we have here is equipment designed to identify and expose anyone replaced by Cobra's upgraded synthoids, which we will demonstrate by finding a jar of some of the un-solidified mass hidden in the base...the search will be visible on the projector screen behind me." He says while Beachhead pulls the screen down. "Thanks sir."/"Dun' cawl me dat!"/"Right, Sergeant; won't happen again, Sergeant...Turn the scanner on, Flash." He said next, and they watch Flash go into the hallway.

Only to see Dial-Tone scratch his head before talking into his radio headset. "Uh, Flash...you missed a turn."

"You sure?; I'm following the arrow on it."

"But the sample was to the left...Breaker, widen the base cross-section by 10%, please...make it 40%." Dial-Tone asks, and everyone sees a man-shaped icon and two dots of different sizes. "Colonel, where's that bigger one?"

"That's the stockade...Where Deep-six is."

* * *

Out on the Australian coast.

After finding out that Capt. Clay Moore's outpost was also destroyed with no survivors, Cobra Commander is overseeing a mass of air and sea transports being loaded with troops, jets, and armor. "Soon, G.I. Joe; soon you will know the true meaning of suffering."

* * *

Chapter thirty. Read and review.

*Gung-Ho, for those who miss it.


	31. Hissed off

Frontline News.

Skymaster23 has no connection to The Blob films.

* * *

Outside the stockade, Flash is speaking with Col. Sharp. "Are you certain that it's not a malfunction?" He asked.

With a miffed expression, Flash replied. "Sir, i built this device myself, so that's not possible."

"I prefer your being wrong to the idea that there may be a second Joe whose K.I.A. somewhere." The Colonel says while Flash waves over Rock 'n Roll, Grunt, Roadblock, and Blowtorch.

"Th' Colonel saent us 'ere tae watch ye back, Flash." The latter tells him.

"Hmm, probably better for you to keep watch at the exit, Roadblock; that might just end up making our opponent duplicate itself." Flash suggested while motioning to Roadblock's signature.

"Good point...This may get ugly, folks; so clear the premises if you don't want to be casualties." Roadblock says to him and the M.P.s.

Once the non-essentials are out, the Joes follow Flash over to the cell where what may or may not be Deep-Six was. "So if Deep's not Deep, what is he?" Rock 'n Roll asked out loud.

"According to this reading, and to what Airtight said, he's a microbial colony with Deep-Six's DNA mixed in, as well as a series of miniature electronics that give off impulses for directional control...and from Shipwreck's report; a self destruct command." Flash explained, sighing at the end.

"You mean that part about them melting right in front of him...That'd explain his pissing himself when he saw Scarlett after getting back, good thing he's out of state right now." Grunt said in response. "Let's just kill the...whatever, and get out of here."

"That might not be the right term; just because it's organic doesn't mean it's alive, Grunt."/"Shut up, you're making the others nervous."/"Yeah, "the others"; this the part where we all hide in the diner, Steve-Ow!" The two, and Rock 'n Roll say before they reach the cell and watch as Flash looked between the occupant and the scanner's screen, then over to them before getting his walkie talkie. "There's no mistaking it sir; Deep-Six is a-huh...Oh shit!" He said before jumping out of the way of a violet appendage slamming into the wall to the left.

"Flash, did he just...it just-"/"Yes it did!" Flash shouted, and points at what is currently changing to get through the bars. "Shoot it before it reforms!"

"And keep yaer heads doown 'case it tries tae "Ace" us!" Blowtorch added, recalling the "germ warfare" incident. After Rock 'n Roll and Grunt put a few dozen M249 and Ithaca 37 rounds into it with little effect; Flash looks at him and gives him a handsignal. "Aye; back tae hell wit' ye, ye shapeless devil!" He shouts while giving a burst from his flamethrower for 6 seconds, then another 4 just to be sure.

"That explains how Breaker got framed, doesn't it." Roadblock said once he walked in and saw the remains that Grunt was poking with his shotgun.

After passing the scanner over it, Flash nodded. "Flash here, imposter has been neutralized; we're heading back."

* * *

4 hours later, the Joes in the commissary are getting their mail.

"Got some magazines for Alpine." One of the moes says.

"He left for Keystone to pick up 'Zooks. I'll hold on to it for him." Dusty replied.

"He's still going on about that?; i know Asian girls are cold, but still..." Mainframe asked, referring Col. Sharp's declining the offer to have Wire Cutter replace Ripcord before Cover-Girl dumped a drink over him.

"How's that for cold." She says before stomping off.

In the Monitor room, Breaker is watching a rally for next year's elections through a security camera when he notices something on another screen. When he magnifies the image, he sees an Indian cargo ship capsized while a Chinese naval ship is taking on survivors, then he pushes his chair over to the phone.

In the Intel room, Lady-Jaye is talking about a letter from her flight school classmate Ron, who mentioned a rumor about a new fighter being designed when the phone rang ."Breaker to Intel team, you're gonna want to see this."

6 minutes after sending the scene to them, Scarlett gives a grim response. "From what i can make out, the destroyer's radioman is saying the Indian crew was attacked by what sounds like a Cobra heli-carrier; and i don't think it was alone...I'd tell the Colonel that **they** ' **re** on the way, big time."

Breaker was just about to reply when Dial-Tone shook his shoulder, and sees four heli-carriers and a disk-shaped craft in a skirmish with some F/A-18's. "...You don't say."

A few minutes later, all of them except for Breaker are in the briefing room; Col. Sharp takes the podium while Duke lowers a large projector screen. "Joes, i have been informed that a Cobra battlegroup has landed at the gulf of California two hours ago. Their clearly out for blood after losing the Springfield site, since they made it here despite efforts of over a dozen ships and aircraft from us, the Soviet's, and even some of China's." He says. A recording of Cobra planes firing on two American destroyers and a Soviet cruiser plays behind him.

The Joes comment to each other on this before Dusty stands up. "Any idea what crazy plan they've got this time, sir?" He asks.

"Maybe they'll carpet bomb us with shaving cream."/"Turn a skyscraper into a big honkin' sonic destructo-matic?"/"Or try to use a monastery as a death ray after super heating the ionosphere and blowing up London?" Clutch, Airtight, and Quick-Kick suggest, with everyone staring at the latter. "What?"

"From what some Mexican police stations mentioned, it seems this will be more conventional this time." The Colonel said, a small grin on his face despite the situation.

At this point, Breaker makes an announcement over the intercom. "Sir, Keystone's air traffic control just reported a mass of unidentified blips."

"How many?" Col. Sharp asked after getting him on the phone.

"They can't tell; all their radar screens are green."

* * *

Chapter thirty-one. Read and review.


	32. Turning point part two

Frontline News.

* * *

After hearing Breaker's words, anxious expressions are all over the room. "It seems now, we have no time to waste." Col. Sharp says, once able to again. "Duke, round up the flyers, two nearby airbase's are sending support, so keep Cobra busy; Beachhead, head to the motor pool, don't let them get the fuel depot. Flint will draw up the plans while you take position...Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

As the first two are stepping off the podium, Ace stands up. "Lets yank the forked tongues outta those sob's for what they did to Ripcord." He says aloud.

Wild Bill, Airborne, and Lift-Ticket stand and are about to agree when another person speaks from the door. "What, ya ain't gonna give 'em one for me, too?"/"Awk; no fair, no fair."/"I saw some stuff about the snakes on the news, so i borrowed a jet so i could get here first."

"Shipwreck...How's about we let yuh pull da first punch, hombre?" Wild Bill offered.

"Hmm...Sound's fair to me, pardner!" Shipwreck replies with a big smirk as all the Joes welcome him back.

"If you're all finished, i suggest we get a move on before the big show starts." Col. Sharp tells them before adding a parting statement. "Yo Joe!"

The Joes stop before reaching the door, look at him in unison and glance around. "Did the Colonel just..."/"Did that just happen, Alpine?"/"Ha, he did it after all; pay up, doll."/"...Here; and don't call me doll, stupid rhymer." Short-Fuze, Bazooka, Roadblock, and Scarlett all say once in the hallway with the latter scowling after getting mocked by her roommates.

* * *

Cobra Commander has finished speaking with Scrap Iron about the lead ship's repairs when a voice on the intercom is heard. "Commander, Major Bludd's squadron has entered the enemy's radar range."

"Understood; keep the Joe fighters occupied so the Night Ravens can reachhh sufficient altitude to do the same for phase three...Cobra!" He says into a wall panel, then thinks to himself. "The Joes have a nassty habit of sssstaying alive no matter what we throw at them. With that in mind, if we somehow fail again, they will atleast be crippled enough that the other project Desstro is working on in sea station 18 will remain secret until it's too late."

* * *

At the same time in the Joe's monitor room, Col. Sharp and Flint are watching the Cobra planes on one of the screens. "Must be how gramps felt in '41." Breaker says to himself.

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't tossed out my simulations the other day." Dial-Tone told him.

"Your simulations? That's why, right there; you keep trying to-"

"Clam up, both of you...If this gramps of yours made it, then we will too, Breaker." Flint said, reminding him of the last time Cobra launched a direct attack.

Down in the hanger, Duke and Scarlett are watching the other Joes and the flight crews give the occasional glance to the empty spot as the latter load the ordnance and countermeasures. "Knowing there's one less friend keeping your six clear is getting to them, Duke; think it'll break our winning streak?"

"Hard to say, Scarlett...We've been shorthanded before, but never because we los...never for a reason like this." He replied while folding his arms. Noticing the doubtful look she has, he reaches out with his right hand and brushes her arm. "But we've made it out each of those times, haven't we."

"You don't seem too convinced of it, yourself." She told him.

"What makes you say that?"

"Not that i don't mind, but it's the fourth time you did that just now."

Further back, Shipwreck is heading to his Skystriker when his Green-shirt copilot speaks up. "You sure going along is a good idea...after what i heard about what i heard about-"

"About what...You think I'm gonna go all Capt. Ahab on 'em? I'll have you know I've had therapy out the wazoo for what that faceless freak did to me." Shipwreck replies, and plops down in his seat thinking about how many rusty nails he wants the bat to have if he meets Cobra Commander again.

"Right sir, sorry sir."

"No need for the sirs with me, kid. but good to hear...Starbuck." He said as the canopy finished closing.

In the motorpool, Beachhead is directing everyone from the Mauler he's standing on as Joes and Green-shirts assist their mechanics to load S.A.M.'s and anti-air shells. "As y'awl know we're 'bout tuh face an air raid, so send out da Armadillah's wit' da AA guns, and anythang wit' mizz'als on 'em first; dem snake's ain't gonna send in armah till dere flyboys tear us up first, so ours gonna stay put." He tells them before thinking to himself. "See how yuh laik dat, Mr. know-it-awl."

After pulling up to one Armadillo, Cover-Girl leans out of a Snowcat and points a thumb back. "What do you say about that, Brownie?" She asks.

"Eh, Flint could do better in his sleep; but it did the job." Lady-Jaye replied.

"Ah guess, seein' as y'all is such an expert on da formah, after all." Cross-Country said next, causing Lady-Jaye to flinch and blow a raspberry.

"You're one to talk; don't think i haven't guessed about that "recruiting mission" in Puerto Rico you two volunteered for!"

"...Um...Pewtuh Reek'o, wut's dat-Oh,look-at-da-tahm-gots-ta run...Yo Joe!" Cross-Country says while Cover-Girl gives a mocking "bye-bye" wave.

"Why you! This is so not over, you hear me?!"

* * *

Beachhead's group waits at their positions outside the rear fence. He looks right to see Cover-Girl and Lady-Jaye facing away from each other, Dusty checking over his M202 again, and Heavy Metal, Roadblock, and Flash are chatting about something. Then left, where Gung-Ho is leaning against the wheel in his V.A.M.P. "Beachhead tuh Duke."

"Duke here; make it quick."

"Yuh been at it up dere fer eight minutes, rait?"

"...What about it?" Duke asks after downing his ninth Rattler before looking up slowly. "Col. Sharp, magnify the view over the base."

Inside, Col. Sharp passes the request to the tech Joes. "Hmm; er...Mainframe, adjust the feed to filter out the solar glare, would'ya?" Breaker asked. A few seconds later, some specks appear.

Everyone goes wide-eyed when they realize what they're seeing. Flint turns to The Colonel. "Sir, are those..."

"Damn right they are. Duke, Beachhead was right; enemy bombers in a holding pattern above us, break off and intercept!"

* * *

In the lead airship's war room, Cobra Commander sees a small blue icon climbing below a few red ones and slams a fist against the console before turning around and points at a Tele-Viper. "You there, warn all Ssstrato-Vipers that they've been ssspotted; take out the Joe base's main weapon on the double!"

"Yes sir...Anaconda one to all Night Ravens, you have incoming; commence phase...Sir, bogey's approaching from 4 o'clock low!"

"What?!" He shouts, and runs to a screen to see fighter jets similar to those described by the survivors of the gerbil bomb fiasco. "Why now? Order the Firebats to disengage and intercept, do not allow them to stop my Night Ravens!"

"Yes sir. Attention, all remaining Firebats; we've sighted unknown aircraft approaching below radar level, head them off before they interfere with phase 3...Cobra!"

* * *

Chapter thirty-two. Read and review.


	33. Give and take

Frontline News.

To gu61: This chapter might explain a few things for you.

To cheryl.l(eggans): Sure they will, and here's how.

* * *

As Duke is getting the order to engage, he and Scarlett see a second Skystriker begin climbing, which is also noticed in the war room. "Who's plane is that; pilot, identify yourself." Colonel Sharp ordered.

"Just everyone's favorite flying sailor; no way in hell I'm gonna let someone else have the first shot at these bastards, not after they killed Ripcord."

"Shipwreck, turn that plane around ri-"

"Holy mackerel, i think i just got whiplash from that!" Shipwreck interrupted after watching the black jets pass him by faster than expected, causing all the Joe's comm chatter to overlap once they realize how outmatched they are against Cobra's new aircraft.

"What the hell?"/"-ving too fast, i can't get a lock."'/"-ndo, watch your-Recondo and Short-Fuze have bailed out."/"Jesus Christ, are they under remote control?"/"Support squadron 2's pulling back, what's left of them; Snow-Job, Cutter, cover their retreat!"/"All the Dragonfly's are down an..."

"Sir, are you seeing this; those jets are tearing us apart at mach 4-what are those pilots made of?" Mainframe asked.

"We have confirmation, the enemy jets are being manned." Breaker says, transmitting a blown-up image of an enemy cockpit. It was blurry, but a person's upper torso could be seen.

"But how; n' if dey ain't bombers and ain't after our fuel, wut's da objective?" Beachhead asks over the screen from his A.W.E. Striker.

After a few seconds, Flint goes wide-eyed in realization. "The harpoon; Beach, get everybody back to the front lot, they're after the base's main gun!"

"...Damn it; double back to da entrance, step on it. Yo Joe!"

"Hold on a sec, Beachhead, our targeting systems can barely keep up with their Firebats; we'll never hit those things!" Heavy Metal shouts from his right.

"Den we jus' hope dey dun' know dat!"

"Um, guys, we got another problem flying low...Real low!" Alpine says, pointing out a dust cloud in the distance.

"I see them, Alpine. Joe Leader 1 to inbound flight, identify yourselves." Col. Sharp requested while watching a number of jets and helicopters approaching, and gets an unexpected reply.

"Somebody who's glad he got here before his new post got wiped off the map."

"Gen. Abernathy?"

"It's me alright. I've been watching the oversea's reports like a hawk, so i brought some friends along." Gen. Abernathy said, and Dial-Tone mentions slight seismic readings coming from where the Pit Viper made it's exit after being commandeered. Panning a camera to the spot, they see a tunnel boring machine emerge, followed by a group of 9 H.A.V.O.C.s; three with the G.E.V.s, four with Chaparral turrets, and two with medevac carriages, all being followed by the strange bikes Beachhead mentioned in his report from Cameroon.

* * *

In The Commander's lead ship, one of the Tele-Vipers calls him over. "They've caught on, Commander. Their initial ground units are doubling back."

"Ssson of a bitch; order the heli-carriers to land and deploy the armor and infantry forcesss!"

"Yes sir. Attention, attention, we have a change of plans; phase 3 canceled, begin phas-" He starts to say before Cobra Commander shot him.

"Idiot...Belay that order, phase 3 will continue as planned while phase 4 commences ahead of schedule. Is that clear?!"

"Understood, Commander. Carriers 1 through 4, extend landing gear and make your descent." Blue-shirt 2688 hears over the intercom from one of the airships.

"Finally. I'm going to kill as many of those assholes as i can for what those bastards did to you, Bridget*." He tells himself, referring to Deming, who died in the explosions at Springfield.

* * *

Back in the Joe's war room.

"Colonel, da flankin' carriers just started moving awl'a sudden." Beachhead warns.

Dial-Tone brings up a shot of it. "He's right sir, i think round two just started." He says while zooming in to show panels opening on one of them as they land at a spot to the right of the base.

"Contact Los Alamos immediately, tell them it's time to take our gloves off." Col. Sharp ordered.

"You're not thinking of using it, are you?" Flint asked him.

"Like hell I'm not; make the call."

"But sir, we've never even practiced with it!" Breaker told him, looking just as concerned as Flint is.

"Make the call now, dammit!"

Breaker gives a quick prayer before bringing Dr. Winters on the line. "Go ahead, sir."

"Dr. Winters, I'll make this short. Cobra has four heli-carriers offloading armored regiments; we need the activation code to the Z.H. before they finish." Col. Sharp told her.

"So I've heard, we're sending it now."

A few anxiety lengthened seconds later, the code was received. The Joes outside are reloading their ammo when one of them notices a strange brightness. "Hey Beachhead; up there!" Dusty shouts while pointing to the base, which Cobra was also watching.

* * *

"Commander, the enemy base!" Storm Shadow shouts from the porthole that he and some Blue-shirts are looking out of while unknowingly making the same action Dusty was.

"What about it?" He asks while walking toward him before he notices what the problem is. "...What good will that do; they know that thing can't do squat in their situation unless they have some way to-" He went on before remembering a little fiasco during the Weather Dominator attempt, causing him to turn towards a Tele-Viper. "The carriers; get the carriers out of ther-No!" He yells as one goes up in flames.

* * *

"Whoo, we smoked those suckers." Mainframe says outloud while Dial-Tone and Breaker high-five each other.

"Outstanding; fire again." Col. Sharp replied.

"It'll take 40 seconds for that, but okay." Breaker tells him.

"40?"

"Well, it is five or so years old."

"Damn rusty junk!" The Colonel shouted while kicking a random console, then gets to the radio. "Duke, the gun's recharging, but we need you to run interference."

"Sorry, Col., Duke took a couple rounds to the side; I'll get Ship' on it after landing." Scarlett replied, only for another voice to speak.

"Slipstream here, you just need 23 seconds? You got 'em; Yo Joe!" He says as he and his wingmen make a run for the lead airship.

All while followed by Shipwreck. "Hey, the lady said for me ta do it!" He says, but after flying past the airship's "eyes", he shakes his head.

"Did you see something in there just now?" His co-pilot asks.

"I-I don't know, it couldn't be; could it?" Shipwreck asks himself, uncertainty all over his face. A question answered after a second carrier is destroyed.

* * *

While Beachhead's Joes are cheering after the vessel's destruction, the ones in the war room are seeing warning signs. "What's all this, now?" Col. Sharp asked.

"Aw, i was afraid of this." Breaker says before looking to him. "The gun's voltage converter's been fried; it's kaput!"

Before anyone else can react, Cobra Commander appears on a monitor. "G.I. Joe, ccease your attack right now and sssurrender!" He demanded, making all of them look to each other in confusion.

Not wanting them to catch on, Col. Sharp speaks. "Do what? Have you not noticed that you're losing?!"

"Assk yourselvesss thisss; if you do bring down a few of my heli-carriers, will you target my flagship next?"

"You bet your life we will." Col. Sharp replied, only for Cobra Commander to chuckle at him.

"And...what if it meant betting on this man's life, too, Col. Sssharp?" He asked before stepping aside to show someone tied up and restrained by Storm Shadow and Scrap Iron that made the Joes go pale.

"De-Deep Six?"

* * *

Chapter thirty-three. Read and review.


	34. Interception

Frontline News.

* * *

A wave of shock runs through the Joes at what they just heard, the anti-social diver who's "replacement" was just turned to cinders is alive, but being held hostage.

"Flint, did ah hear dat jes' now?" Gung-Ho asks over the radio from the machine gun nest he and Footloose are at. He, Flint, and Scarlett all thinking of how bad they felt when they gave him up for dead after the synthoid was first discovered.

"It seems so; but how can we be certain this isn't a trick, Commander?" Col. Sharp asked.

"Well, there isss one way to be posssitive." Cobra Commander replied far too gleefully before pulling a box cutter out and swiping at Deep Six's forearm, causing even his handlers to wince in surprise.

"Colonel, wut was dat? He didn't jes' kill da hostage, did he?" Beachhead asked, taking a few glances at his team. All of whom were aiming at the lead ship, all waiting for the order to charge and bring it down.

"That's negative, Beachhead. Hold fire until further orders." Col. Sharp answered as behind him, Flint explains the situation to Scarlett, who just arrived from the infirmary. Knowing that the blood on the tool and on Deep Six's arm means that he's the real one, Col. Sharp gives the order. "All forces resum-."

Scarlett shoves Flint aside and runs over to him only for Mainframe to grab her. "Colonel, no. Let me go!" She says before Flint also pulls her back.

"Not holding back, even after all thiss time with them, Col. Ssharp?" Cobra Commander asked, clearly having enjoyed the results.

"I told you he'd say that, didn't i fangbreath?" Deep Six asked next before being punched in the head by Scrap Iron.

The Commander angrily turns to him before looking back. "If you intend to let another of your men die, I'll help with that; hook him up and lower him down the escape hatch." He says. A winch frame is wheeled in and Deep Six is sent down the tube. "What now, Col. by the book?" He asks, not noticing the two behind him watching as the cord pops up as though being tugged on before Scrap Iron retracts it to find it severed.

"Um, Commander, we might have a-"

"Not now, Scrap Iron, I'm busy standoff-ing." He says, looking over his shoulder for a second only to look again two seconds later and place his hands on his helmet. "You idiot, you used a faulty rope!" He shouts before shoving him and rushing off screen before the Joes see an image with a Tele-Viper who's visor reads: Technical Difficulties, please standby.

* * *

"So, what now sir?" Flint asks Col. Sharp. "They're bound to realize what happened to the Z.H."

"Do you want me to lead the rest of our armor out?" Scarlett asked a split second after.

"All we can do about that is hope they think it's recharging...Ace, do a sweep of the area below the lead ship, see if you can find Deep Six's...; Beachhead, hold off the enemy ground force so Scarlett can-" Col. Sharp orders until a different voice is heard.

* * *

At the same time, Cobra Commander is ordering a line to Major Bludd. "Major Bludd, somethings gone wrong, make a pass of the ventral hull."

"Rogeh, Commander...There seems to have been a breach, no idea when." Hearing this makes The Commander run back to the hatch. The three all peer down to see Deep Six, who's uninjured arm is being grabbed by another person.

"You mind if i take this fellow for a checkup, he says some wacko in a mask scratched him." The man says while smirking before letting go and extending two little jets attached to his belt after entering and leaving Major Bludd's line of sight.

"Hooly Dooley!" is all he can say before attempting to get a lock on them, only to hear the familiar sound of Skystriker shells hitting his fuselage.

* * *

While that is going on behind them, the rescuer motions forward to a dual rotor helicopter, and turns off his jets before plowing into a raft blown up inside. "Heh, right on time. Good work, Steen." He tells a black haired man Deep Six doesn't recognize.

"Eh, that depends on what just...Gen. Abernathy?!" The diver asks outloud once everything stops spinning.

"Last time i checked i was, son. Skylar, move us out of here." The General says, then heads to the co-pilot's seat and puts a headset on.

* * *

Back in the Joes war room.

"Col. Sharp, this is Gen. Abernathy, we have the hostage; bringing him home. Over." They all hear.

As the Joes around him start clapping, Col. Sharp looks to Dial-Tone. "Get me a visual first."

"Right sir; Dial-Tone to any available Joe pilots, requesting visual confirmation. Over."

"One moment, laddy." Blowtorch says, bring his partly damaged Skyhawk alongside and sees Deep Six hold a hand up after noticing him. "Aye, he's in'aer, sair; seem's tae have a wee mark on 'im, but he's alive!"

After gaining a slight grin, Col. Sharp speaks up. "Damn good to hear. Beachhead, set up an L.Z. and send someone to pick up Doc."

"Yes sir." Beachhead replies, then looks back. "Awrait Joes, we gat us a bird on da way; clear a spot for it!"

"Got it, we'll hold them off." Zap says, and speeds off with Flash, Clutch, Roadblock, and Lady-Jaye.

"Hold it Cross-Country, head back an' git Doc out; gonna need him tuh check on Deep Six." Beachhead tells him, but the other Joe points at the site.

"Ah dun' thenk dat'll be no concern; look." He says, seeing one of the H.A.V.O.C.s on it's way.

* * *

After having lost his hostage, Cobra Commander looks back to the Tele-Vipers. "Call back all remaining Night Ravens for drone attachment. I want them to suffer for this insult!"

"Enemy aircraft approaching at 3 o'clock; they've locked on to us." A crewman reported.

"Switch to reverse engines, full ascent!"

"Aye aye sir."

"Missiles will hit in 26 seconds!"

"All hands brace for impact!"

The last order proves unnecessary when they notice the third heli-carrier take the hits. "-zzzz-is Anac-zzzz-a 19, get-zzzz-mander out of here...Cobr-zzzz." The airship's captain said before it exploded.

"You heard him, get me out of here!" Cobra Commander shouted, giving no sign of the gratitude the crew had for the last second save.

* * *

Chapter thirty-four. Read and review.


	35. The guns are silent

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Clint Eastwood or his films.

* * *

While the commander's ship was fleeing, the last carrier's payload has finished offloading. The Cobra infantrymen start setting up A.S.P.s, and machinegun nests while their armor moves past. Blue-shirt 2688 watches as the Joes are about to learn once again that despite inflicting heavy losses, Cobra bites just as hard. The ones assigned to L.Z. clearing are racing toward the enemy when Beachhead's voice shouts over the radio. "Zap and Flash, yuh got a STUN tryin' tuh head yuh owf, slow down an' wait fer yer backup."

"Not a problem, we'll get around behind it." Zap replied, only to be warned about a rear gun. But it came too late, and the other three Joes can only watch as their V.A.M.P. takes a few rounds to the front left tire. As he attempts to get control back, the STUN makes a turn and blasts them to bits despite the efforts of Clutch and Roadblock to hit it first while everyone else looks on in despair.

* * *

In the carrier's bridge, the sight is taken differently. As the crew cheers at the minor payback they got, the captain calls over to the helmsmen. "They're distracted; ascent vector on the double." As the craft is taking off, Gung-Ho stands and picks the M85 he and Footloose are at after the former abandoned his V.A.M.P. when a Firebat strafed the front of it. While he is emptying his rounds in vain, a Crimson Guardsman has just noticed him after picking off fourteen Green-shirts and is lining him. But before he can take the shot, he hears a noise to his right. He looks and sees his spotter with a big bloody hole in the back of his neck. It was the last thing he ever saw.

30 yards away, the shooter picks up his walkie talkie. "This is MacBride; all done here."

* * *

Inside the Joe war room. "Dammit...Those bastards killed two more of our guys!" Scarlett shouted before looking back to Col. Sharp and Flint.

"Granted." The Colonel says simply to the silent deployment request.

While she and the rest of the Joes are heading to the motor pool, Clutch swerves to get a lock with his R.A.M. cycle's sidegun. He manages to get the rear gunner, only to break off when one of the STUN's main guns flipped backwards. "Whoa...You could have mentioned that part, Beachhead!" He says into his helmet mic after narrowly avoiding the shot.

"Must be a new feature; da ones from Cameroon didn't do dat."

"Or they didn't get the chance back then." A third voice said as the H.A.V.O.C. showed up and plowed right into another STUN as it was aiming at Clutch's bike. "That makes five. Beat that, jarhead." Forrest tells himself as he glances to a distant figure by the Chaparral launchers, imagining him swearing up a storm.

Once the General's Tomahawk lands, Deep-Six steps out and sees nurse Simmons, Clutch, Rock n' Roll, Short-Fuze, Cover-Girl, and one other that seemed slightly familiar headed toward him. Noticing them all stop at a slight distance, he sits down on the edge of the helicopter's floor and starts to break down crying. "Jus~just this once." He says, and they all give a welcoming embrace until Forrest shouts out a warning.

* * *

Eight minutes earlier in the heli-carrier, the last of the Night Ravens has just landed for refitting. One of the ship's personnel, an older person with glasses and thinning black hair waves as Crimson Guardsmen board the drone craft. "Good luck out there; we'll have a batch of my best stew waiting for whichever of you makes it back!" After all of them have taken off, the Joes on land and air begin the last firefight of the day.

"Heads down!" Forrest yells as one of the Night Ravens starts a strafing run. In his rush to push back the upper seat's plate, he slips off, knocking himself unconscious. Simmons instinctively heads over to him, only to get struck by debris from the rounds which shreds her right arm. The sight of which causes Cover-Girl to take Short-Fuzes's FIM-43.

"See how you like it, you fucking bastard!" She yells before sending the rocket loose. As the pilot is releasing the chaff, he fails to notice one of the swept-wing jets locking on to him. Before it explodes, however, he and the other Night Ravens release their drone planes, which strangely keep their engines off as they head for the base.

"Aw, dere kamikaz'in; knock'em down!" Beachhead ordered. As the Joes start shooting at them, Cross-Country runs to Forrest's H.A.V.O.C. and climbs up to the seat. While Deep Six, Forrest, and Simmons are being placed in the med-carriage, the new driver takes a moment to mumble about it being unarmed before he figures out the controls and starts moving back to the motor pool.

"Dis's Cross-Country speakin', ah could use me an escort o'er here!" He asks over the radio, and sees an A.W.E. Striker and a strange bike approaching. He sees Alpine and Frostbite in the former, but the bike's seems new to him. Part way to the base however, he gets a warning about a STUN approaching, but it follows the 'Striker when they take some potshots at it. Once safely inside, Cross-Country jumps off and heads to the carriage door to help carry Forrest out.

"Nice driving there." Clutch says to him. Cross-Country glances back at the vehicle for a second while Deep Six stumbles past with Cover-Girl's assistance asking why a civil war mannequin is in the motor pool.

Up in the war room, Col. Sharp is watching the Cobra planes with the rest. "They've kept their engines off and aren't shooting back...What's your take on it, Flint?"

"My guess is that they're not loaded." Flint tells him, then looks to Breaker. "Find their trajectory." But the sounds of impacts are heard before that could be finished. "Where'd they hit?!"

"Uh...Looks like they went for the windows, sir." Breaker says before Cutter calls over the radio saying four of them each fired a short burst before impact, but that a fifth was unable.

"So much for your guess." Col. Sharp tells Flint, then looks back to Breaker. "Who and how many?" He asks before three more impacts are felt. Breaker brings up a security camera to see a Crimson Guardsman in a shoot-out with Rock n' Roll, Lavigne, and a second M.P. while Clutch and Cross-Country are dragging Deep Six into a supply room. Another camera shows one who just stabbed a mechanic in the back before he notices he's being watched and shoots it.

"Lock out all the computer terminals and call back as many Joes back inside as necessary." Flint orders as he heads to lock the room's blast door.

"Right, sir...Attention, Cobra troops have made it inside. Any available Joes, fall back immediately and, uh, repel boarders!" Beachhead hears over his radio. After staring at it, he orders Barbecue, Bazooka, Thunder, Lady-Jaye, Quick Kick, Stalker, and Snake Eyes to go.

Back inside, three of the intruders have met up. They are looking over a copy of the base's floorplan made by the synthoid when they hear a voice above them. "Awk, what'cha doin, what'cha doin?" Polly asks from the ceiling light he's perched on.

"Huh...Eh, just that damn sailor's bird...amscray!" One of them says before they look back to the map.

"Press pop goes the weasel for entry, Fred." Polly says while looking at the door to Airtight's lab.

"Who are you calling Fred?" The Crim says to himself as he starts typing the code in.

"You're not seriously gonna listen to some dumb animal?" Another asks.

"I'm listening to you, aren't i?" The first one replies, only for the floor panels on either side of him to swing upward at him. Once he recovers from the "ambush", he gives a warning glare to the other two before turning towards Polly. "Any last words?" He asked as he leveled his rifle.

"Made ya look, ya weasel." Polly replied and the three of them then look back, only to see Barbecue, Bazooka, and Quick Kick aiming at them, the latter doing a Clint Eastwood line before Recondo, Cutter, Tollbooth, and Spirit approach from the other end of the hall.

"Good work, Polly; but what'd ya call him Fred for?" Barbecue asks.

"Maybe cause of the uniforms?" Cutter suggested. A few seconds later, they hear from Thunder that the Cobra forces outside are retreating, which Col. Sharp confirms just before Stalker announces that the last of the Crims are down.

Once the "all clear" is given, Col. Sharp, Duke(in a wheelchair), Flint, and Beachhead have met up. "You sure you should be out here, Duke?"

"I told Doc I'll just watch, so it's fine."

After The Colonel shakes his head, the four walk over to Gen. Abernathy, who is leaning against a Mauler speaking with Scarlett while Steen and another medic are tending to Heavy Metal and Mutt. Scarlett points them out, and The General greets them. "Some welcome party this turned out to be, wasn't it?"

As Col. Sharp nods, Duke asks Gen. Abernathy if he wants to inspect what remains of the base, but he declines. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'd prefer to make sure the post I'm going to be in charge of is tended to first."

* * *

Chapter thirty-five. Read and review.


	36. Post-op part seven

Frontline News

* * *

The Joes and green-shirts all glance around after Gen. Abernathy's request. "They haven't been told yet?" He asks Duke and The Col.

"I'm afraid not, sir; we were too busy with the Mullaney incident and with finding that Deep Six had been duplicated." Col. Sharp explained. The Gen. nodded and watched as rubble and bodybags were moved around before asking for Dial-Tone to walk over.

Once he arrived, The Gen. takes the handset and starts speaking. "I realize that this will be sudden, but effective immediately, I will be taking Col. Sharp's place as your commanding officer for medical reasons." He says first, pausing to see the uncertainty on their faces before continuing. "As i stand here, i can see that dealing with the losses you've taken won't be an easy thing to deal with for either of us; but standing up and dusting ourselves off will, so if you please, hand me an extra shovel. We'll use'em for snake bashing after we're done here; Yo Joe!"

It takes the Joes and Green-shirts a few seconds to realize the new C.O.'s offer before full-heartedly accepting. "Yo Joe!"

"Yippee ki yay, ah like da new sheriff already."/"Darn tootin'; any higher-up willing to get his hands dirty is one for whom I'm rootin'."/"Youze guys can say that again!"/"This is your old boss, huh?"/"Yep; he always hated being behind that desk." Wild Bill, Roadblock, Cutter, Scarlett, and Lady-Jaye all say as Metzger and MacBride drive up.

Gen. Abernathy notices and calls for them and and the other two who arrived with him. "One other thing of note is how you noticed by now that i didn't come alone; As of now, G.I. Joe will have seven new men: Leatherneck, Low-Light, Lifeline, Wet-Suit, Sci-Fi, Slip-Stream, and Hawk." He tells the crowd while pointing.

"No new roommate for us? That stinks."/"Whoever picked those names must be from snores-ville."/"Yeah...Wait, hold the phone...He only pointed at six of 'em." Scarlett, Alpine, and Torpedo say next.

"He's got a point, sir; where's this Hawk you mentioned?" Duke asked while he and everyone else looked around.

The General smiled before answering. "He's standing right here, son. General Hawk, straight from...snores-ville, wasn't it?" He tells them, giving a glance to the climber and diver, who both clamp a hand to their mouths and hide behind Green-shirt Perry.

* * *

At the same time, Dr. Mindbender is out on a Manta-sub's deck with a few random eels watching the two remaining craft limp back to Cobra Island's direction while speaking with The Commander over a radio. "Vhat do you recommend ve do now, Commander?"

"We let the Joesss think they have us on the run for now." Cobra Commander replied. "What is the sstatuss of operation: Neptune's ire?"

"...As of now it is at 41%. Shall i inform Destro to speed up the pro-Vhat is it now, sail-Hilfe um gotteswillen!" The Dr. screams while panic and rifle fire is heard in the background.

"Dr. Mindbender; come in, Mindbender...Dammit, get a visual on his possition, hurry!" The Commander ordered, and the screen shows a giant octopus is shown waving the mad scientist and one of the eels before dropping both of them. "Can someone exxplain what jusst happened?!"

"My-My apologies, Commander. One of my side projects decided to follow me again." Dr. Mindbender tells him while scratching a welt on his neck before kicking one of the creatures tentacles.

"...Whatever, jussst get back inside before sssomebody discovers our transmissions."

* * *

Back at Joe H.Q., the casualties are being tallied. "-nd while Flint is inside takin' da final count; what we do know is dat Zap, Flash, Frostbite, and 39 Green-shirts are dead, Nurse Simmons lost a forearm and will need a lung transplant, Short-Fuze lost his left eye, and 74 Green-shirts are wounded." Beachhead informed The Gen., Col., and Duke.

While they discuss who should be in charge of the letters nobody likes, the other Joes are sitting around when Recondo watches the man called Lifeline walking over to a Blue-shirt after placing a yellow tag on Quick-Kick. "Got a live one? I'll handle that." He tells the medic while cocking his rifle, once again ready to knock one off for Marrisa, only to see him turn and stand in between them. "Do you mind, it's kinda hard to shoot a guy when i can't see him."

Lifeline only shakes his head. "You keep that disgusting thing away from my patient."

"Get outta my way right now, four eyes." Recondo says in a low tone, too angered to acknowledge the medic being unarmed, only that he won't budge.

As a crowd forms, the commanders start to head over before Gen. Hawk stops them. "Are you crazy, sir. He'll tear that man to pieces, the way he is now!" Duke tells him. "He's...has that man been going around without a sidearm this whole time?!"

Again, The General smiled before answering while Beachhead folds his arms and looks the other way. "No need to worry about Lifeline." He said as Recondo stepped forward and raise a fist, only to have his wrist grabbed and have a leg swept out from under him. "He doesn't exactly need one."

Once that is over, Lifeline turns back to the Blue-shirt, who had been watching the whole thing. "You-you must be off your rocker or something!"

"No, just because I'm a soldier doesn't mean I'll abandon the number one rule...Do no harm." Lifeline said, and patted the Blue-shirt on the shoulder. The Blue-shirt doesn't know why, but he knows that the person talking to him can be trusted, and breaks down sobbing as Recondo and the crowd stare in disbelief.

Elsewhere, Deep Six is sitting against a Mirage cycle after being told of the deaths of Mallory and Ripcord, the promotions of Blais, Nash, and Sikorski, and every other thing he missed out on, and thinks back to the last time he spoke with the former.

Flashback.

Deep Six is in his usual spot when he hears the door handle rattling. "Beat it!" He shouts, only for it to continue. "I said get lost..." He says after stomping over and opening it to find no-one there. After mumbling to himself, he sits back down, only to jump in his seat as two hands holding little figurines pop up at the end of the table. "Wha...How did you two get in here; and what are you holding?" He asks while noticing one is of him, while the other is of Snake-Eyes.

The fabric covered hand drops it's copy and scribbling is heard before it comes back with a notepad. First part: not telling. Second part: Not dolls, actions figures.

Deep Six raises a brow. "When did i call it a...You know what; My first part: I couldn't care less. Second part: Aren't we supposed to be a top secret agency? How did some corporate fatcat get permission to make us join the latest scam?" He asked before wondering which of the Joes bought the things.

The other person then spoke up. "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the sea-bed again." Mini Deep Six said, causing Mini Snake-Eyes to be tilted forward three times.

"Yes i did; you gonna leave now?" Real Deep Six asked next while trying not to think of how much his taxes were being wasted on that junk.

But he was ignored. "G.I. Joe is the codename for America's daring, highly trained special mission force. It's purpose, to lets kids be a toy's r' us kid." Mini Deep Six said, making the real one give a huff.

"Whatever, McCabe." He says, causing her and Snake-Eyes to poke their heads up.

"Okay then, what did ye do when growing up?" McCabe asks while Snake-Eyes puts his figure in a shrugging pose.

"...All i ever needed was my dad's tools and his old comics*." He tells them.

No wonder he's such a grump.

Deep Six is about to reply when Breaker makes the announcement for the Massey mission.

End flashback.

He looks up at the sky and mumbles something under his breath before looking over to the crowd.

* * *

Chapter Thirty-six. Read and review.

*Made up.


	37. Autoshow

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to DC Comics.

* * *

Following the funeral's of Zap, Flash, and Frostbite, Short-Fuze, and Simmon's were discharged, while Lavigne and several others were transferred to Walter Reed; the M.P., Green-shirt Perry, and Cpl. Fisher having gone hand to hand with eight Crimson Guardsman. As for the rest, they are currently gathered outside being introduced to the long awaited additions to their armor corp. "Nice threads, man. Got a real Batman look there." Footloose tells Low-Light, but only gets a slight glance in response. He is about to try a different subject when he is cutoff.

"I've seen stuff that'd make him shit bricks."

While Footloose is finding another seat, Hawk, who has since informed the Joes to skip formalities with him, walks over to the smallest one first. "Joes, this is the L.C.V...or Low Crawl Vehicle...Recon Sled. It is armed with a side mounted 9mm auto-load cannon, has an aluminum 96 hp. engine, an ergonomically designed bio-fit saddle, and features a periscope on it's bulletproof windscreen."

"I think you got some competition, Cross'." Crankcase says after nudging him slightly and pointing to Cover-Girl, who was hugging herself and sporting a creepy grin while other Joes give her a wide berth.

They then follow Hawk to the 2nd vehicle. "This next one is one of two G.I. Joe originals. It has, however, changed since being thought up by Tollbooth, in-that it is now known as the Heavy Articulated Versatility mOdular Carrier; meaning that the rear section can be removed and replaced for any combat situation." He says, pausing when one of them raises a hand. "Got a question, Wild Bill?"

"Yeah; How come ah don't see no chairs inside it?"

Hawk glances back a second before explaining. "Nice catch there, son. Two/thirds of the cabin is empty space; the purpose of which is to redirect incoming fire away from the driver and radioman, who will both be in the prone position. Any other questions?" He asks, and continues when they say no. "Right then. The H.A.V.O.C. behind me is the standard model; while the forward section comes with two point defense Light MG's and a heavier medium to long range weapon emplacement, which is also interchangeable; this rear section features a scout VTOL craft called the Ground Effect Vehicle, which has two computer linked 7.62mm machine guns, a top speed of 60 MPH, and can travel 80 miles."

He takes a breath and continues. "The carriage itself has 4 Lancers, which are bi-pulse anti-armor heat-seeking missiles as well at two of the same type of MG's as the Recon Sled has." He then goes on to the aircraft. "Seeing as you have already seen the Conquest X-30 in action, i will instead tell you about the Tomahawk; a transport/air-sea rescue helicopter. It has no armaments, but makes up for it with a top speed of 240 MPH."

Finally, he walks over to a small orange and gray motorboat. "This last one is known as the, uh; the Devilfish." He says, and shrugs Lifeline to groan in annoyance.

"Something wrong with the name?" Lift-Ticket asks him.

"Lets just say my first book was the bible." Lifeline explains.

* * *

Chapter thirty-seven. Read and review.


	38. Changing of the guard

Frontline News.

* * *

That afternoon, everyone has just arrived at The Joes Place for Col. Sharp's farewell dinner. "Here we are Lamont, 7PM on the dot." Roadblock tells him as he, Ace, Steeler, and Breaker walk in first.

"Haha; it's been a while, cous'!" The manager says, and whistles to himself when he notices how many customers he is about to have. "I'm in for some Heavy Duty, ain't i?" He says next when something gets his attention. "And is it just me, or are there some new faces 'round here?"

"So you noticed; a while ago Cobra had us in a big jam, so the gentleman in the big brown jacket over there brought some new friends and some toys to show the snakes a whole new meaning of wham!" Roadblock explained. hey are about to enter the kitchen when Lamont notices something else and sneers.

"Aw hell no, what is he doing wearing that shit in my diner?!" He asks while pointing at one Joe's belt.

"Iffen yuh be meanin' me, ah ain't here tuh cause no hard feelin's." Cross-Country tells him as everyone turns to see what is happening. "Ah kin do a reverse if dat's whut y'all want." Lamont raises a brow at the suggestion and watches as the Joe heads into the restroom. After half a minute, Cross-Country comes back out with his gray shirt, hat, and boot wraps now dark blue and with a US flag on his belt buckle. "Ah been told dis outfit was only around tuh confuse dem snakes; ah'm real sorry fer any offense."

"...Fine." Lamont says, and the two shake hands.

With that over, the Joes go around choosing seats. Leatherneck looks over to Heavy Metal while taking a box of Camels out. "Want one?"

"Not me, buddy. No one in my family took it up since great-uncle Erhard." The tank driver tells him as an order of meatloaf is given.

"What happened to him?" Leatherneck asked while getting a lighter out.

"He was sitting on a barrel of gas." Heavy Metal replied, causing the new guy to glance at his lighter and the dish before gulping.

While Breaker, Quick-Kick, Slipstream, and Grunt are snickering at that, Col. Sharp looks around to see Wet-Suit being ganged up on by Gung-Ho and Mainframe after a snide remark...Scarlett, Cover-Girl, and Lady-Jaye at the juke box...and Ace grimacing as Slipstream puts mayo on his fries before deciding to make his last speech.

"May i have your attention please. Throughout my 42 years, it has been a privilege to serve with, and be in charge of, some of the bravest people that this country has had to offer; and while i haven't known the hardships faced on the field for some time, it was never easy to send you or any other fighting man...or woman into harms way. You may not have been the ideal subordinates; no, you proved downright aggravating at times, but i was and will always be proud of having commanded such outstanding individuals. Before i hand over the reigns, i bid you G.I. Joes a~fond farewell." He told them as his voice wavered at the end.

As everyone wipes their eyes, he then turns to Hawk. "General Hawk, i hereby transfer command of the Government Issue Juryrigged Ordinance/vehicular Experimentation division to you, sir." He says, using the team's cover-acronym, and salutes.

"Transfer accepted, Colonel Sharp." General Hawk replies, but blinks when he is given a note. "An address?"

"For the nearest bar. You'll need it when you need to beat yourself over the head with it and forget they exist when they get too rowdy." He explains before turning to the door. "Give those poison ropes one for me if or when they show up again; Yo Joe." He says while waving without looking back.

"Sir, yes sir. Yo Joe!" They tell him. "Enjoy yourself, sir!"/"We'll never forget you, Colonel!"

* * *

Chapter thirty-eight. Read and review.


	39. Up to date

Frontline News.

Note: ty for comments.

* * *

After the Colonel's send-off, Hawk is in his new office and has called for his new top subordinates. "You wanted to see us?" Duke asks for him and Beachhead.

"I will, just as soon as the last one of you deci-" Hawk is saying when Flint enters and explains that he was busy having Stalker take over after catching Snow Job, Rock 'n Roll and a bunch of Green-shirts doing a "how many can fit?" contest with one of the Tomahawks. "Uh-huh...How'd that turn out?"

"They were at 24...by which i mean push-ups, not people...when i got your announcement."

"Good to know. Take a seat." He replies, making a mental note to ask later, and picks up a folder. "First order of business; I've gone over some of your past missions. Seems some of you have been assigned with certain teammates more often than with others. I trust you've never allowed yourselves to be distracted in the line of duty?" He asked while keeping a steady eye on them.

"Not at all, sir." Duke answered with a straight face.

After four seconds, Hawk switches to the next one. "Flint, i understand that on one of your first missions, you and Lady-Jaye ended up in Low Light's place of residence when he was still in law enforcement."

"Yes, General. Our Dragonfly's fuel tank was punctured when she struck it with one of her javelins after loosing her grip on the skid."

"And neither of you let the stress of such an event get to you?" He asks while peering from the file to his face.

"Sir, we were in full control of ourselves, sir!" Flint replied, both he and Duke mentally praising and battering themselves for the hours of practice at secret keeping.

"...Very well." Hawk says, and turns to the third. "Beachhead, considering you haven't been in such a situation, have you ever noticed any discrepancies in their statements?"

Beachhead glances from the General to the other two for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Negative; dese two 'ave been on dere best behav'yah for as long as ah've been here, Gen'rul."

Hawk then nods and stands. "Outstanding, keep up the good work. Your all dismissed."

The three nod back and walk out. Once out of earshot, however, Beachhead turns toward them. "Ah hope y'awl are proud of yuhselves. Ah jes' risked mah ass fer da both of yuh jes now."

"Trust me, Beachhead, i hated it just as much as you did."/"I'm not jumping for joy, either; but thanks." The other two say, only for Beachhead to start poking the latter.

"Y'awl kin keep yuh mawth shut; dat kinda gratitude ain't worth horse shit."

* * *

Lifeline is being shown around the base's infirmary. Despite all he'd heard of this place since enlisting, the faint sounds of shrapnel being dropped into trays, the sight of nurses with blood soaked cloth made it seem like he never left civilian life behind. If anything could get past his stoicism, it would be a half-conscious patient mistaking them for a phone book and a strawberry popsicle.

"Considering how big this place is, this section seems a bit small, doesn't it?" Lifeline asks.

"Not really. This is only one of the rooms; we have a whole half of this level for keeping base personnel up and at 'em." Doc explained while checking the patient's clipboard.

"And does that apply to P.O.W.s?"

"Not in here; the stockade has it's own ward for them. Other then that, next is the filing cabinets." Doc replied.

In the office, Lifeline sees whole rows of them, two in particular catch his eye. "What's with the green and pink ones?"

"The green one is for Tripwire, cause he's accident prone. The pink one is Shipwreck's, for being a faker." Doc explained, and gave him a sheet. "Here's one for a sprained thumb; one of 41, that is...One for "an allergic reaction to bat fur" when Cobra attacked a munitions factory in Carpathia...My personal favorite is this bout of hay fever to skip out on a voluntold convoy." He added while snickering.

"Why would it be a favorite?"

"Just because of the sudden bout of Coprolalia he developed when he found out the mission was to Fort Knox." Doc replied when an orderly walks over.

"Doc, we got two more coming in."

"Which ones?"

"A couple of the new guys; Leatherneck and Wet-Suit." The orderly replied, causing Lifeline to palm his face and ask Doc to handle it.

"O...kay. What happened to them?" The senior medic asks.

"A fistfight in the commissary. According to the witnesses, they were chatting up some of the female personnel, and Cover-Girl and Green-shirt Pulver set them up so they, uh-" The orderly was explaining before a voice from outside was heard.

"I'm not gonna make it, am i?"/"What about me, I'm the one with gyrene-germs all over my face!"

"...Pulled a switcheroo on them, i take it?"

* * *

Elsewhere in the base, Deep-Six is wandering around when he spots Ace heading to the rec-room to start a cardgame with Roadblock, Cross-Country, and Dusty. After hesitating for a couple seconds, he rushes over to him. "Hey Ace, hold it!" He shouts, only to crash into the pilot when he stops to look around for the unfamiliar request.

"Look mommy; sandpipers." Ace says before shaking it off. "Deep'? What's the idea of that?!" He asks while unconsciously keeping a hand over his holster.

"Sorry, sorry; i...i just wanted to ask something." Deep Six asks while helping him up.

"You? That's a first. What is it?"

"Assuming you were going to have another card game...you, you got a, uh-" Deep Six tries to say, but Ace interrupts him.

"I must not have completely shrugged off that fall just now, cause it sounds like Mr. lone wolf eel himself is asking to be in a group."

The diver gave his usual sour look before sighing and explaining an event from when he was a captive. "Only cause of something i went through eight weeks after i got caught; they had me and 22 other's; 16 men and 7 women working on some kind of hydro-electric turbine, and a big one at that...anyway, they killed off 9 men and hauled off 4 of the women...for reasons neither of us wants to think of...to keep us quiet before i ended up on tin-face's command ship."

"...I see. Well consider yourself accepted."

"You mean it?"

"You can even cut the deck first." Ace replied before extending a hand.

* * *

Shipwreck is headed to the armory after finishing at the shooting range, and finds Lift-Ticket inside with his head in his hands, he asks what the problem is. "You know how we've been dealing with the Moe's truck getting blown up? Well i just-" He starts to say when Slip-Stream walks in.

"Moes?"/"It's what the pogues in the mail room call themselves."/"Oh...What's eating him?" The newest pilot and Shipwreck say before Lift-Ticket starts over.

"Well i just got done calling my little sis cause Low-Light mentioned getting divorced."

"He and Satin broke up?" Shipwreck asks him.

"Yeah, but it's just a ruse due to his being one of us." He explains. "It still can't be easy on their kid, though."

"Oh, i get it now."/"That would explain why he took time off after that aerial refueling session a while back." The two told him.

* * *

Iceberg is getting off the phone and gets an opposite look on his face. "Good news?" Mainframe asks him.

"Yep. I just got off the phone with a girl i met after the fake UFO business."

"That's allowed here?"

"If you mean dating, I'm not too sure; we haven't gotten that far yet; anyway, she just mentioned her uncle just struck a deal with someone from a group calling itself Ocrab financial." Iceberg explained.

"What's this uncle of hers do, exactly?" Mainframe asked next.

"He's planning a giant greenhouse in Santa's backyard."

"Greenhouse? This lady's name wouldn't be Wendigos, would it?"

"Mahia Wendigos. You know her?"

"Not her, but i do know one of the tropodome's surveyors from back during basic training. He dropped out after the second week. Other than that, has anyone here seen a real flying saucer."

"Huh...Oh you mean like some of those other bases? Beats me; but since we don't have any nukes here, i doubt it. How about you?"

"Well, me and those other two are working on a replacement for the harpoen."

* * *

Later that evening, Flint is at his apartment in Keystone watching a silent movie when he hears a knock at the door and heads to it. "Password?"

"Rampart." She answers, and the two curl up on the couch.

"How'd it go with you?" He asks her.

"Been a heck of a day; first Hawk grills me on how i got caught more often then Duke did, then me and the other two girls catch that dork in the neon with Cutter, Wild Bill, Dial-Tone, Alpine, Spirit, Torpedo, and five Greenies. They were all drooling over a bunch of Japanese comics where these...well nevermind...anyway, we nab Dial-Tone and show them a thing or two."

"You did? How so?" He asks while sliding a hand under her shirt.

"Well, we~we roll over an empty fuel drum and have ourselves a bonfire while he got~to wear Sci-Fi's helmet which he lost somehow, and a little number since he was so interested in young girls clothes whil~e...while LaChance takes a picture so all the new guys know who's boss." She explained while gasping and squirming about a few times.

"You could have just let us know." He tells her, though he was plenty aware what her response would be, or atleast he thought he was.

"Maybe, but nowhere near as fun. Can't believe he's the same guy who asked me out." She said.

"You turned him down right?" He asks before he can stop himself.

"...You can be such an asshole sometimes." She tells him while forcing his arm off and facing away from him.

"I know. I'm sorry, it's just that Hawk asked Duke and me about you and Scarlett."

"Safe to say he didn't get anything out of you." She says. "If you must know; yes, i turned him down...as respectfully as i could. I wasn't Miss. rough and tumble back then; our country and fellow citizens mattered more then being paid to be some wallflower on a T.V. screen." She continued.

"That was until you met Duke, right?" He asks her.

"No; it was the van in Albania." She replies as she glances at him. "And the stairwell." She added while placing a hand in his.

"In the airpocket." He says as he closes his hand around hers.

"At McBride's." She says while leaning toward him.

"In my quarters." He says as he places a hand on the back of her neck.

"The hotel in Yokohama." She says while placing hers around his back.

"And the one in Crete." He finished as they locked lips.

* * *

Chapter thirty-nine. Read and review.


	40. Bug in the system

Frontline News.

Note: This will be slightly A.U. at the end.

* * *

In the apartment, Lady-Jaye was just reaching for Flint's zipper when his pager sounded off. "Aw, dammit...It's Breaker." He says, and gets his phone while she gets her blouse back on. "Flint here; what's the word?" He asks him while running a hand across her thigh, causing her to groan before muffling herself with a pillow.

"We just got word that...Is there someone else there?" Breaker asks him.

"Just a movie i was watching; and it was just getting to the good part, too." Flint replies, and takes a pillow to the ribs before he moves his hand to her back.

"Oh." Breaker replies before speaking more quietly. "That new boss of ours ain't in here right now, so no need. As i was saying, we got word from **a neighbor downstairs.** "

"What's he have to say?" Flint asked as his expression changed and moved his hand away.

"He says that he **found a burrow near his pool.** "

Flint replies after relaying it to Lady-Jaye, who nods. "I see; anything else?"

"Well, i did get a call from a buddy at **the hardware store** , he told me that his **uncle's got a new hearing aid.** "

"Uh-huh, thanks for telling me, **Brenden.** Anything else?"

"Just that Alpine found a bit of a snag in our finances."

"A bit?"

"We're gonna have to say goodbye to the R.A.M.s and V.A.M.P.s."

"Ouch; Crankcase won't like that."

As the couple head back to the base...at separate times to avoid suspicion, Lady Jaye thinks back to four and a half hours earlier.

Flashback.

She is speaking with Scarlett and Cover-Girl about Dial-Tone's "new look" when General Hawk calls for her on the intercom. "You wanted to see me, sir?" She asks out of reflex.

"Old habits, i see? Have a seat, please." He replied with a grin, and opened up her file. "Let's see...Lady-Jaye...Intel operative along with Stalker and Scarlett...Weapon of choice is...Javelins?"

"Yes; they're equipped with multi-purpose heads on them by Flash." She replied before glancing down as she remembers the sight of him and Zap dying earlier. Being well aware of her body language, Hawk offers to postpone the questions. "No...I'm alright, General; go on, please."

"I've been going over your past missions, and i must say how alarming it is for you to be so prone to being captured; like the time it was by one of "The Twins"." He says, keeping an eye on her as she balled up her hands. "Was it that traumatic for you?" He asks her in a soft tone.

She lets out a sigh before shaking her head and answering. "It was certainly nerve wracking; but even if Xamot did use some memory erasing gas who knows how many times on me, i...i just know that he never did anything to hurt me." She explained. "Not physically, anyway." She thinks to herself.

"Nothing at all?"

"No, sir. As a matter of fact, the way he treated me the whole time was almost child-like." She admitted.

"You don't say...Very well. I also spoke with my top three earlier..."

End flashback.

* * *

While she and Flint reach the base, they are sent to the briefing room where Hawk is speaking. Images of a partly hidden seaport are on the screen behind him. "Now that we're all here...What you see behind me is a submarine base at Isla de Coiba that Cobra purchased from a drug cartel at some point, and Washington and South America both want us to pay them a little visit." Hawk says, and points to Torpedo when he raises a hand.

"What's the objective exactly, General Hawk?"

"Very good question; our orders are to leave behind a little present for them." Hawk replied as Mainframe set up another image of an object the size of a hockey puck. "This is the present; it's the latest model of Spy Ear. I'll a small team to plant it on one of Cobra's vessels. Any volunteers?" He asks, and gets Wet-Suit, Gung-Ho, Low-Light, Scarlett, Footloose, Lift-Ticket, and Spirit. "Alright. Lift-Ticket will lead a squadron of four Tomahawks, and two Dragonflys carrying Devilfish before dropping them off at the Archipelago de Islas Secas. Wet-Suit will lead you in those seacraft to the target area, here." He says, and stops to catch his breath.

"Assuming all goes well, the U.S.S. Coral Sea will be waiting in Pavon Bay for the signal to approach. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The volunteers all say, and Freedom screeched.

"Then what're you standing around here for? Yo Joe!"

"Yo Joe!"

As they were taking off, Duke nudges a jealous looking Wild Bill. "Still upset, Billy?"

"Yer dang right, ah am; dat feller gets to listen to dem props purrin' like a kitten and ah don't!" He says, and kicks at the asphalt.

* * *

After a day and a half of traveling, the choppers hover above the shoreline. "Lima Tango One Niner calling Juliet Hotel Quebec, all rods ready for casting. Over." Lift-Ticket says as Wet-Suit descends first.

"This is Hotel Quebec; enjoy yourselves out there. Over and out." Dial-Tone replies before calling Hawk. "Dial-Tone to General Hawk, Lift-Ticket's squadron reports all's well so far."

"Okay then, keep me posted."

As the choppers were refueling from the cans in Tomahawks 3 and 4, Wet-Suit instructs them on the Devilfish controls, making sure to be as condescending as he can for Gung-Ho. "You jarheads do know how torpedoes work, right?"

"Hows about yuh stand still so we ken find owt?"/"Give it a rest already, man!" Gung-Ho and Footloose both say.

"Does he ever tire of this?" Spirit asks Low-Light while Scarlett is putting Wet-Suit in his place.

"Solar powered, I'm afraid."

Once they reach the site, Spirit sends Freedom out for scouting. After a dozen minutes, the eagle returns and squawks a bit. Spirit nods and speaks while pointing at spots on the site's old blueprint. "Unchanged aside from structural reinforcing. 30 guards; with refurbished lookout posts. Also three hidden pillboxes."

"...He said all that?" Wet-Suit asked aloud, then blanches when the eagle takes a scrap for Spirit's mouth.

"He's never let us down yet." Scarlett tells him before taking charge. "From here, we split in teams of 2. Low-Light, you and Spirit will stay here. Gung-Ho and i will circle around to the other side of it and let off a flare. Wet-Suit and Footloose, you two head in from this side while Low-Light is picking off the perimeter troops so we can drop the bug off; got it?" They all comply and move out.

While making their way, however, Scarlett and Gung-Ho find a couple of blue-shirts on patrol, only something was different about them. Gung-Ho motions to them, but she shakes her head, so they wait for them to pass by. "If ah didn't know any betteh, ah'd say dey were walkin' like Marines jes' now." He tells her quietly before they move on.

Once everyone was ready, the flare was launched. "What was-" One blue-shirt started saying before seeing the radioman next to him slump over. He curses and swings the machine gun around, only to take a round himself before he can finish.

"That's three down. Next." Low-Light says to Spirit, who directs him to a Water Moccasin gunner pinning down team two. They pick that one off when Scarlett alerts them to some scouts heading in their direction.

As she and Gung-Ho head over to one of the subs, she's shot in the arm while loading a fragmentation bolt. He goes to drag her away before being kicked in the back, and glances up to see the Baroness standing over him. "Aw hell; must'a just...shown up, i take it?" Scarlett asks while holding her arm.

"Maybe, maybe not." The Baroness replies while smirking at them. She's about to finish them off until she hears something behind her.

"Not happening, lady! Yo Joe!" Wet-Suit and Footloose both yell. While she turns to dodge their fire, Gung-Ho takes the Spy Ear and places it under a seat on a Moray.

The four of them make their way outside where the choppers are flying in, only to be shot at by Firebats, one Dragonfly and Tomahawk are downed in the first pass, only to be covered by F-16s from the Coral Sea. "Get her in before more of 'em show up!" Lift-Ticket shouts.

Once they get Scarlett to the base infirmary, Hawk announces the next move. "Now that the Spy Ear is set, all we need to do now is wait for that Moray to start moving."

After a couple days of the target merely performing standard patrol routes, the Joes receive word of a Cobra weapons lab. While the Tomahawks are taking off, Lifeline is stopped by one of the Moes. "There a problem."

"Yeah, Leatherneck flew off before i could give this to him."

"That's alright, i can give it to him." The medic says before looking it over. "I wonder what CEC means?"

* * *

Chapter forty. Read and review.


	41. The Rotten Egg

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to the Super Mario series.

* * *

While Leatherneck was on his way to the event he had been invited to; Hawk is going over designs for an experimental humanoid P.A.C./R.A.T., as well as a replacement for the base's "big gun" when he is informed that the recruits for the Green-shirt division have arrived. "Okay then, I'll be right there. Thank you, Breaker."

Once his welcoming speech was done, the new soldiers are led through the base, where they walk past some Joes shoving carts of S.H.A.R.C. parts. One of the recruits stops and looks back. "Wasn't that...Is there a gourmet chef 'round these-here parts?" She asks outloud before removing her helmet, causing Roadblock to go wide-eyed.

"Well if it isn't lil Honda-Lou with a howdy-do." He says while patting her shoulder.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Hawk asks as he walks over.

"That she is. She got caught up in the Weather Dominator incident when Cobra took over some of her semi's." Roadblock explains, only to pause for a second and glance to Honda-Lou as Barbecue was telling Hawk that it was her trucks that brought the furniture for his R&R spot in Keystone before and after it was destroyed in the Christmas ordeal. "How come you ain't doing that?" He asks, and she explains that the repair costs for all the trucks got too expensive, so she sold them off a year ago. "That don't explain why you'd pick a job this insane."

"Now, don't y'all go thinkin' i went for this one only. I put in resumes at four other places; but in the end, haulin' stuff around is the only life I've ever known." Green-shirt West replies.

"You don't say. How's about you let me give you a few pointers, then." Cover-Girl offers as she leads Honda-Lou to the motorpool.

"Oh, jeez."/"I'll go let Rich, and or Doc know." Cutter and Green-shirt Alexander say.

"Know about what?" Hawk asks Roadblock, who was about to explain when Beachhead is heard over the intercom for Gung-Ho and Mainframe* to join him at the airfield for the flight to Parris island.

* * *

Once the four Joes make it back to base and it was revealed that the McCann at Leavenworth was replaced by a synthoid during a power-out, Hawk is requested to have his tech Joes to come up with a method to deal with them. "So, do either of you have any ideas on how to keep one of them contained?"

After a week of arguing and designing simulations; Breaker, Mainframe, and Dial-Tone come up with a triangular cell with high intensity energy beams instead of physical bars. "Well, that sounds fine, but it could just stretch its way out?" Duke asks them.

"Airtight brought that up too, Duke." Breaker replies. "The solution we came up with is for the emitters and mirrors to both be on a rotation mechanism which should prevent a synthoid from solidifying."

A while later, in Flint's office.

"Huh...Well, i guess this means that old case is closed for good." Lady-Jaye said aloud, causing Flint to raise a brow.

"Old case?"

"I didn't tell you? I was one of the agents tracking McCann's smuggling plot the week before i met Duke." She explained.

"Oh...That wouldn't happen to mean you know all of the new guys, does it?" He asks her.

Putting on an exaggerated look of annoyance, she replies. "All except Slip-Stream and Sci-Fi; never met either of them before."

"Alright. Sorry again about that remark earlier."

"That's ok." She tells him before leaning forward a bit. "Just between you and me, I'd have rather watched him bop those mushrooms with the tiny feet, anyway."

* * *

In the Terror Drome.

Once Cobra Commander got over the loss, he begins work on a replacement class of operative. He draws a figure with a blue short-sleeve jacket, a black and orange vest, orange arm guards, black boots, and finally, the helmet. "Sso, what do you ttthink?"

"It's like you made out vith a blueberry and a pumpkin at the same time." The Baroness stated.

"And what's with the goggles if they already have a visor?" Scrap Iron asked.

"You two are jussst upset becaussse it's better than what you would have come up with!" Cobra Commander shouts while shaking the sheet in irritation.

"There's also the matter of what they are to be called." Destro says.

"Our suggestion is that they..."/"...be called plain old Vipers." The Twins add, and explain when Storm Shadow asks the obvious. "Mostly due to it being..."/"...the anniversary of..."/"...that mess made that cost us..."/"...the Antarctic resort..."/"...the West Point attack..."/"...and the raid on our corporate headquarters."

"Exxxcellent point." Cobra Commander says, so as to get them to stop talking. "I hereby order the immediate creatttion of the Viper corps. Cobra!"

* * *

Chapter forty-one. Read and review.

* Originally it was Roadblock, Wet-Suit, and Low-Light who went with Beachhead.


	42. Sink the Montana!

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to any Disney productions.

A belated RIP to Chuck McCann.

* * *

In the weeks after the Joe's "raid" on one of the observation posts, Destro and Dr. Mindbender are introducing a new device. Nobody is that impressed, however. "Out of the quessstion; what makess you think that piece of crap will work any better then my Pyramid of Darkness did?!" Cobra Commander asked him as he pounded his desk.

"For one thing, Cobra Commander, the Pulse Modulator is merely intended for medium-range ballistic shielding rather than world-wide denial of energy." Destro explained.

"The attack at Isle de Coiba has led us to consider the best vay to use it." Dr. Mindbender added, and hands over a newspaper with the headline: Full steam ahead for U.S.S. Montana's decommissioning.

* * *

"No way in hell am i watchin' her get shredded, you new-fashioned vulture!" Admiral Ledger says to Overton while the two are in the Flagg's hangerbay watching one of the new Conquest's be worked on.

"The C.O. of one of our most modern carriers has no right to talk to me like that; the Montana's a beat-up old relic, Ledger." Overton replies, with a glare.

"So are we, but you don't see us getting turned to god-damned paper clips!" Ledger tells him while shaking a fist at him. "I'm staying here and that's final; now you best shove off before i personally toss yer ass overboard!"

* * *

While the other Joes were getting the Constitution ready for action, Shipwreck had snuck down below, where he sees all the museum pieces. "Yippee, look who just hit the jackpot!" He says outloud, and switches hats. "How's this? Pretty snazzy, right?"

"Awk, you're a regular Captain Lame'o." Polly replied and flew out of reach when Shipwreck threatens to tie him to one of the cannon-stuffing poles.

A few minutes later. "Avast there, ya pasty faced, sour nosed, rickety minded landlubbers..."

* * *

As they came into visual range of the rogue vessel, Alpine sees General Hawk sighing at the impending confrontation. "You not liking this either, i see." He told him.

"What makes you say that, Alpine?" He asks, and is told how the climber's oldest uncle was part of the Montana's mess-hall staff back in the 40s before dying when a U-Boat fired on it in the Caribbean. Hawk nods and tells him a tale of his own from 1966.

Flashback.

He and 39 other soldiers were on a village clearing mission in eastern Thua Thien when he was a Lt. They hear a blast and screaming, causing them to drop down for a second before seeing that one of the flamethrower troops was hit and took 6 men with him before a mass of northern soldiers rushes in. "Take cover and return fire!" A man with a Major's insignia orders, then turns to him. "Clayton, lead some men around that building and draw there fire while we-" He is saying until he notices a BRDM-1 and shoves him out of the way before it starts shooting.

"Oh god, my knee!"/"Major Mendels!"/"They're getting too-Ahh!"/"We gotta fucking cut out of here!" Some of them say before Abernathy gets them back under control.

"Stay focused, dammit!" He shouts and points to a private who's name tape read J. Colton. "You; get to the radio and call for support!" He ordered and starts reloading his M16.

"Right, sir." The Pvt. replied. After a few moments, they hear a tell-tale whistling noise before the enemy vehicle explodes.

"Who'd you get?" Lt. Abernathy asks him.

"Not sure what his name is, but he said U.S.S. Montana."

End flashback.

* * *

While the Baroness was mocking the failure of Destro's latest invention, Dial-Tone and Mainframe are playing Game Over II, when the phone rang. "Hello...Mrs. Who?...I'll tell him; goodbye." Dial-Tone says, and hangs up.

"Who was it?" Mainframe asks while he was leaving, but apparently wasn't heard.

At the same time, Dusty is in the rec-room, where he, Bazooka, Quick Kick, Footloose, Snake-Eyes, and Sci-Fi are watching cartoons. "What're you guys doin' watching that?" Low-Light asked while picking a pool cue.

"You'd rather we, like, watch guys shooting each other and stuff?" Footloose replies as Snake-Eyes pretends to yawn.

"That ain't a reason for Uncles Sam's Best to waste time on dumb kiddy shows." Leatherneck said after taking a turn.

"Reasons?, Don't need 'em."/"Yeah, don't be such a Heffalump." Bazooka and Quick Kick say to him.

"What the hell's a Heffalump?" He asked, and starts regretting it when they start grinning at each other.

"Gasp; Mr. Remington Raider doesn't know what Heffalumps are?!" Quick Kick says, causing Leatherneck to groan as they, along with Cover-Girl...and Wet-Suit, who only moves his mouth due to not knowing the words, start singing a certain Disney song just before Hawk's calls for Dusty over the intercom.

"You wanted to see me, General?" He asks once he arrives, and notices Duke looking at him glumly. "Is there a problem?"

"I'm afraid there is, son." Hawk said, and after asking him to sit down, explained that he'd been informed that they got a call from the Texas City N.G. saying a Mrs. Vasquez called them.

"Oh, she's a caretaker i hired for-" Dusty starts to say until his eyes widen. "Wait, my mother...She's gone, isn't she?" Hawk, who hadn't gotten over Lattimer's suicide, shuts his eyes and nods.

While Dusty was drowning his sorrows in the barracks with Shipwreck and Footloose, Beachhead walked in. "Listen up, ladies. We just oveh'heard da Stingray* tawlkin' about sumptin called a Vortex Cone. Dusty, yer exempt given da loss yuh jes' had." He tells them.

Dusty attempts to volunteer anyway when Shipwreck joins in. "Aw no ya don't, pal. You go sober yerself up for yer ma's funeral; I'll give those goons one for both of ya."

* * *

Chapter forty-two. Read and review.

*Made up codename.


	43. Last Hour to Doomsday

Frontline News.

Note: this chapter will be slightly A.U.

* * *

During Hawk's briefing about Cobra's latest scheme and the round of complaints about it being so soon after the last one, he mentions that they will be coordinating the interception with a squadron of Chinooks from a Texas airbase. Rock 'n Roll asks why they wont be using the new Tomahawks. "Good question. The reason is that we don't want Cobra to realize that this is related to our earlier break-in." Hawk explains, pausing while Wild Bill pouted over being denied another chance to pilot one.

"Laugh it up while ya can 'ere, ya big galoot!" Bill shouted over to Lift-Ticket.

Elsewhere in the room, Heavy Metal leaned over to Scarlett and pointed over his shoulder. "Wet-Suit's wondering if you're going in for round two."

She looks past him for a second before shaking her head. "Let him know that i would; but Doc says my arm's not 100% yet. I might twist it wrong and give myself away, so I'll let Jaye go instead." Half an hour after Duke and Flint's team left, Scarlett was exiting the lady's room when she noticed Ace twirling his casino visor. "Setting up another game?"

"I caught that neon newbie claiming to be the best card player in the pacific." He tells her, and puts it on with a grin. "Wanna watch me clean him out, red?"

"Deal me in." She replied, since she had nothing better to do.

Once they arrive, Sci-Fi, Alpine, and Thunder are in the rec-room waiting. "About time you showed up, fly boy." The first one says before noticing Scarlett. "She here to watch?" He asked.

"Nope. Break out a chair for me, boys." She replies while stretching her fingers out.

While Thunder is doing so, the rest sit down. "Does either of them have any tricks i should know about?" Sci-Fi asks Alpine quietly.

"You never know with Ace; but Scarlett's got 'em from here." Alpine replies, pointing at the top of her head down to her feet. "To here, my man."

"Not to mention here...my man." Scarlett said next, and flicked him on the left ear, having noticed the corner of his mouth move when his finger was at chest level.

* * *

After the Moray was released, Lady-Jaye heads below deck to change (which she'd been waiting for ever since the incident with the laser guidance system). She turns her flashlight on and glances around the space for a second before cupping a hand to her mouth. "Cobra Commander sounds like a dying weasel...Anything, Dial-Tone?" She asks into her walkie talkie.

"Cha~channel's clear, Lady-Jaye." He replies while snickering.

She then turns it off before changing clothes. "I sure hope they don't notice the skankyness having a different shoe size all of a sudden." She tells herself before putting the wig on and heading back topside.

* * *

Five hours later, Blue-shirt 2688 is manning the turret of another Moray when he sees someone swimming towards the craft. "Stop; keep your distance or I'll open fire!" He warned before looking down. "Skipper, we got a drifter off starboard."

"Drifter?; but we're 30 miles from the nearest coast." Another one says, then sees for himself. "She sure looks like the Baroness."

"Of course i am, you idiots!" She shouts before another wave smashes into her. "Let me aboard."

"Or so you'd have us believe, i saw her just two hours ago."

"That was Lady-Jaye; the Joes intercepted me vhen i was returning from the Cone's inspection; drop the ladder and varn the Commander!" The Baroness tells them.

The crewmen turn and huddle. "This has to be a ruse."/"Obviously. 2815, go ahead with that ladder...but keep an eye on her while i bring us back to the base."/"Aye aye."

After Flint's commandeered F.A.N.G. exploded, the leader of the three Blue-shirts speaks. "Are we in trouble over this?"

"Hmm, while i will ccertainly be deducting the cossst of that fuel from your pay; your disscovery has earned eaccch of you a promotion." Cobra Commander tells them. "Destro, have thessse three transsferred to the Viper corps."

* * *

While approaching the primary target, Deep Six contacts H.Q. "Angler to Cannery; setting up...Aw, hell's bells!" He says aloud after recognizing it as the last thing we wanted to see again.

"What is it?" Breaker asked.

"You remember what i said about being forced to make a generator; turns out it wasn't one after all." Deep Six replied while thinking back to his captivity, and is about to request permission to attack when he notices something else. "Cannery, **the school's** got some new kind of Eel headed for them."

"Acknowledged. Check the **lobster** tank. Any suggestion on what we should go for?" Hawk asked.

"Yes i do. Wet-Suit, go for the panel 18 yards to the right; it's the one they had me working on." Deep Six advised. "I wasn't told what it was for, but it...Hawk, two those Eels just tore right through the **orca's** and netted two **m** **arlins**."

"Understood, angler. Order the **lobster** next."

* * *

Following the loss of yet another base, the Baroness, still suffering from a cold, wakes up in her quarters and heads to her restroom. After going through four tissues, she reaches for her mascara, only to find it empty. "Dab; vhab ib i eher do tuh geserp tiss?" She asks herself.

"Here, use some of mine." She hears, and sees her reflection hand her some after wiping her nose.

"Z..zenthu." She says, and is just tossing the fifth tissue away when she realizes what just happened. "Hat dah gell?!" She yells as "she" climbs through the hole in the wall of the room which turns out to be a pre-fab she was placed in. "Ooh ipersantik...me uhven, Nebeh Dhay?!" She asks while lunging at the imposter.

"Missed me, gran'ma." The person said.

"Hu widduh fidds; fuh dah...nell..." The Baroness was yelling before a bout of nausea set in. While she was vomiting, the person reaches for the top of her head and pulls a mask off to show a woman with orange hair just as Cobra Commander and Zartan walk in. "Nill sam'un ugspun wud ib kohig on?"

In another part of the Terror Drome, Dr. Mindbender is having his own, internal, ordeal while resting at his work table. "Spiral...numbers...floating towards..."

* * *

Chapter forty-three. Read and review.


	44. Computer Complications part one

Frontline News.

* * *

In the intel room of Joe H.Q., Stalker is checking on reports of Cobra activity from the Pacific when he notices one sheet has two images, one is a photo of a fisherman showing off his catch with a black object in the background, the second is a cleaned up magnification of the first which proves the object to bear a close resemblance to a Night Raven. He turns to ask Scarlett to get on the phone since Lady-Jaye was out getting replacement coffee filters. "Can't, busy, sorry." She tells him, listening to a transmission about experimental mini-copters stolen by the Dreadnoks from an Oktober Guard carrier in the Arabian sea.

Stalker groans before picking up the phone. "Monitor room, can you get some eyes on the south Burmese coastline?"

At the same time, Hawk and his trio were at the Slaughterhouse, telling them and his fourth in command about a discovery made after the destruction of the vortex cone. "This was found on naval sonar once the water was clear enough." Hawk tells them, and shows images of a barnacle encrusted crescent shaped craft. "The area is closed off under the pretext of bio-hazard removal."

"Are you telling us that the snakes got the idea for the Vortex Cone from aliens?" Duke asked him.

Hawk was about to answer when a voice is heard from behind them. "I doubt it; that style of shuttle's an antique."

"Who was that?" Duke asks aloud before the five men head outside to find what used to be a normal Tomahawk.

"Hi'ya fellas, I'm Whirl." The Autobot said while "stretching" an arm.

"You broke into our systems?" Sgt. Slaughter asks.

"Huh...Did not; we sent Seaspray undercover as one of your ships. Not that it wouldn't have been very hard." The Autobot informed them.

"Not very hard? Dose are da most advanced computehs we've got." Beachhead says.

"Blah blah blah, a Retrorat could outperform your networks; not to mention that some species out there have computers that are paper thin!" Whirl replied, causing Sgt. Slaughter to glance between the Transformer and his base's console room. "Anyway, what your divers found was a type of Kymellian Smartship that hasn't been used for 3155 years, but how it ended up here is anyone's guess." He added, showing holographic images of the buried ship and of an intact one.

"Kymellians? Are they on your side or the Decepticons?" Hawk asked, so as to break up the argument between Beachhead and Whirl.

"They're a bit like what you call Horses, except bipedal like we are. As for the second part, neither." Whirl explained, adding that any further information was restricted.

"The secret's safe with us; right, men?"

"Yes sir!"

Following that, Whirl resumes his previous form as the five Joes head back inside. Hawk continues where he left off. "As i was saying, we doubt Cobra's aware of the vessel since it was found 340 yards away from their base under 29 feet of mud."

However, he's interrupted again when Sgt. Slaughter's console started buzzing. "Yes?"

"General Hawk, you're not gonna like this, but we just got word from MacGuffin Labs that one of the artifacts from the other day went overboard when a rogue wave." Dial-Tone tells him.

"What?; which one of them?"

"The uh...Artifact 08." Dial-Tone replied while tugging at his collar.

"Damn it! Tell Deep Six to lead a small squad out with a T.T.B. Platform and some robot subs out and find it before anyone else does, as soon as possible." Hawk ordered.

"Is this artifact that important, General?" Flint asks him.

"You bet it is; after that double knock-out you gave those Cobra guys, i imagine they wouldn't think twice about using an antimatter battery against you." Whirl says from outside after leaning over to the window. "Couldn't help overhearing."

"Uh-huh; and what's antimatter, exactly?" Flint asked next.

* * *

"Antimatter is one of the most dangerous substances in the universe." Dr. Mindbender tells the other Cobra leaders while intercepting Dial-Tone's transmission.

"Is it now; we're gonna take it from the Joes, right?" Firefly asks him.

"Keine Frage! Even i vouldn't dare use such a thing offensively." Dr. Mindbender replied, which Destro and Scrap Iron agreed to.

"I take it ye mean it's atomic level dangerous?" Major Bludd asked.

"If you must know, antimatter is far more deadly; I'll demonstrate." Dr. Mindbender says, and pulls off one of his gloves. "Picture this as the Tsar Bomba blast radius." He tells them, and gestures around.

"The room?"

"No, an antimatter detonation of the same amount vould equal the Terror Drome in size, if not the entire island."

"Point taken, Doctor. All who accccept that weaponissing that artifact is off the table, say aye." After everyone does so, Cobra Commander continues. "That said, we can ssstill make use of it."

Cobra Commander then adjourns the meeting to conduct the direct approach, then calls Zartan once that didn't go so well.

"Wouldn't it be easier..." Xamot asks first.

"...to have us send..." Tomax adds.

"...One of our agents instead?" Both finish.

"I could, but i think you'll agree that this isss a wonderful opportunity for thossse two relatives of Zartan to gain ssome field exxperience." Cobra Commander tells them before turning towards Destro. "Although i ssstill refussse to think this makes up for losssing the Vortex Cone after you violated the order not to capture **that woman** ever again."

"As i have said, it wouldn't have mattered if Lady-Jaye was present."

"Well you certainly made sure that we'll never find out, you tinfoil bobble-head!"

* * *

After being informed of Zandar's failure, Zarana drives out to a Cobra owned auto-repair shop. "Evening, Miss. What seems to be the trouble?" One of the workers asks her while checking a few things out.

"I'm here cause i heard you have a **special** on seat **covers**." She tells him.

"...No prob, **we** have a few samples inside." He replies, and leads her to the office. "Head down to room 22." He says in a different tone as he opens a hidden elevator.

Zarana takes it down and heads to the room to find a military dress uniform and a woman with short auburn hair waiting for her. "Good evening, I'm agent G-55. I take it you're the new Dreadnok Mr. Tomax told me about." The agent says while getting out of a chair.

"Guilty as chahged; what's tha role ya got fer me?" Zarana asks while plopping on the table and crossing her legs.

"You'll be going in as an army computer specialist named Sgt. Carol Weidler." The agent tells her before getting a smirk one her face.

"Ya got a problem wit' me, ya fancy ass lit-" Zarana asks as she stands and leans in the agent's face.

"No, no, it wasn't not that; it's just you almost reminded me of someone i was in training with before she died at an installation called Springfield." G-55 explains while raising her hands.

* * *

Chapter forty-four. Read and review.


	45. Computer Complications part two

Frontline News

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Apple Inc.

* * *

Once "Sgt. Weidler" arrived, she sees a trio of Joes by an A.W.E. Striker and walks over to them, hiding her unease at being surrounded by military personnel on their own turf. "Pardon me, but you're one of this base's electronics personnel, aren't you?" She asks, despite knowing exactly most of who she's presently out-numbered by.

"I sure am...Name's Dial-Tone; you must be that V.I.P. we're expecting." He replied, then pointed to the dashboard. "But I'm a bit busy, ma'am. You'll have to look for Breaker or Mainframe."

"Oh, i see. Before i go, might i ask what you're working on?" She asked next. Aside from Zartan, the most any Dreadnok knows about this stuff is Buzzer, as mentioned by his bragging about once changing the Tele-Viper's goggles so they all used pig-Latin.

"This? It's a new targeting system that these two are gonna try out once I'm finished programming it." Dial-Tone replies while motioning to Crankcase and Lady-Jaye, who gives her the directions, but is turned down as she mentally recites the Baroness's files on them.

Crankcase: real name unknown. Former assigned driver for General Abernathy, Clayton M.

Lady-Jaye: real name, Hart-Burnett, Alison R. Trained in covert operations, aerial operations, and long/close range combat. (AKA: avoid this chick like she's got the bloomin' plague...unless ordered to do so.)

"Thank you, but I've already seen the base layout." She replies, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief as she sees that the disguised worked.

* * *

The next day, Cover-Girl is replacing some parts in the left shroud on a H.A.V.O.C. "Ah dun' see none why y'all should be distrustin' dat new gal from Washington, when she's jes' here fer another day or two." Cross-Country says while leaning against it and thumbing through a catalogue.

"Disrupting what, now?" She asks as she removes her earmuffs. "...Oh; it's nothing to do with that, it's just that it's a bit odd for anyone to avoid us like Weidler's been doing." She explains, recalling how the visitor turned down sleeping in the female barracks and has only showered once in the guest quarters. "Scarlett thinks she's just being shy, but who knows."

Meanwhile, Sgt. Weidler is reaching for the floppy disk with the "new codes" when Mainframe walked in. "Hey Carol, get a load of this!"

"Th-this better be important." She tells him.

"I just heard from a classmate of mine in California, he says Apple's working on a new PC." He replies, shoving a letter about something called the Green jade in her face as he goes on and on. As she feigns interest on the outside, she again cycles through a dozen different ways of killing him for flapping his gums about some geeky crap when they both hear shouting outside. "Hmm...Who was it this time?" He asks when they find Beachhead looming over a toothbrush wielding chemist.

"Me, dat's who!" The 4IC says as he and Airtight look towards him. "Breaker caught him messin' around in da lawndreh room while checkin' last night's sec-rec*; done woke up tuh find Recondo's pants in...did i say yuh could take a break, maggit?!"

"I was wondering why Roadblock looked different today."

* * *

While that was happening, Airborne is about finished supervising Slip-Stream's practice flight around Keystone with a Skyhawk. "I'd say we can wrap this up, don't you agree?"

"Roger that, lead; let's head home." Slip-Stream replied.

As the pair turn around, Airborne spots something familiar below, something owned by a fellow Joe who is walking in a bar...of the type on the Joe men's no-go list. "Aw, Hawk is not going to like this."

* * *

Chapter forty-five. Read and review.

*Security recording.


	46. Computer Complications part three

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Skymaster23 has no connection to Milton Bradley/Hasbro.

* * *

"Is there a problem, Airborne?" The other pilot asks while looking over at him.

"If that's who i think it is down there, then there will be."

"Why; what's so bad about a trip to the bar?" Slip-Stream asked, then wished he hadn't.

"Airborne calling H.Q., get Hawk on the line...General Hawk, I just spotted Clutch walking in a ga...i mean, uh, a "men's only" bar. Over."

"Men's only?...Wait, you telling me that Clutch is...Understood, I'll have him brought back immediately. Over and out."

* * *

Back at the base, Zarana is standing at a corner in the hall looking at the door her objective is behind, which was currently being guarded by Duke. She was just about to reach into her pocket for a blowdart & tube when she hears someone behind her. "Hey, Carol; how's it going?"

"Wha-You again? Don't you know better than to not sneak up on people?!" She says to him with a split-second scowl.

"Is there a problem over there?"/"Nah, just here cause this stopped working." Duke and Mainframe say to each other, the latter holding a Max Backtalk before hearing Hawk on the intercom.

"Attention, all Joes please report to the assembly room; i repeat, all Joes to assembly."

"What's that about, Duke?"

"It's not on the schedule, so beats me."

"Huh...I'll just leave this on the desk...see you later, Carol." Mainframe says as he and Duke walk off. After mentally gagging at the former being so informal, she curses under her breath knowing that she just missed another chance, she decides to follow and see what the meeting is about. After waiting for the last of them to enter, she leans against the wall and listens.

Inside, the Joes all watch as Duke heads up and says something to Hawk before pointing at Clutch, who was seated on stage with his head in his hands. The General heads to the podium. "Joes, it has recently come to my attention that today at 1322 hours, G.I. Joe operative Clutch was found to be in violation of DoD Directive 1332.14, and has been removed from the U.S. Armed Forces."

Amid the mixed reactions, Scarlett, after looking back on all the taunts and beatings one of her brothers got growing up*, stands to object. "General, that's not fair; Clutch's condition has nothing to do with-" She tries to say, only for Clutch himself to interrupt.

"I appreciate the concern, Scarlett; but the fact is i still lied to all of you, and have already voluntarily resigned. I'm sorry, guys."

Hearing this causes Zarana to shake her head and decides to say nothing of this. She's not sure yet what Cobra's stance on the subject is, but Zartan's view was made clear after once sticking a shotgun in a gay person's gut "cause he didn't want to make the gators sick". A half hour later, she heads out to inform Zartan of the interference.

* * *

Much later, as the the two carriers are exchanging fire, B.A. LaCarre and some of his staff are putting out fires in the galley. "All clear over here, chief!"/"My extinguisher's out!"/"I'll get anoth-" They are saying before everyone is knocked off their feet.

"Ow, gonna feel that in the morning...I'm not sure what that was, but we've done all we-" LaCarre is saying, but stops when he sees one of the others a few feet away, badly mangled by utensils and furniture. He searches for the rest, but only finds them dead as well, and runs out. "Hello, is anyone else here...answer me; please, help me!"

No voices, no help, only bodies.

* * *

As the Flagg's crew were fleeing along with the Joes, Hawk is heading to the bridge. "Ledger, we need to go."

The old Admiral, however, keeps his gaze forward. "Go on then, sonny. I'll just stay here for a while, take care of my boys." He says, only for Hawk to knock him out.

"No way in hell, geezer; you're not going out like George did!" He says, recalling how he felt seeing his friend shoot himself back on the Montana, and drags Ledger out.

Once back at the base, General Hawk calls everyone to the assembly room again. "Now that you're all here, i have an announcement. Effective immediately, i have been placed on indefinite unpaid leave due to the loss of both the anti-matter, and the U.S.S. Flagg. Until further notice, Duke, you're in-charge again."

On the other side of the continent, a man in a black suit is walking into the Oval Office while holding a couple of folders. "Hold on one second; i don't believe i had any appointments at this hour."

"We prefer it that way, Mr. President. This will more then make up for the intrusion, and the anti-matter." The man replies, and hands over the folders while the President asks who "we" is. The President takes them and reads the labels, one reading "Silver Star" and the other "AR-90A".

* * *

Chapter forty-six. Read and review.


	47. Downtime part thirty-six

Frontline News.

* * *

The day after the sinking, Zarana is exiting a transport model Night Raven at the airfield on Cobra Island along with Zartan and his other three. She may have already seen photos of the Terror Drome back at his hideout, but seeing it in real life was way different. "Quite the sight; isn't it, sister?"

"How do they keep a big-ass thing like this hidden?" She asks him after she watches a few Trubble Bubbles zip past.

"The Twin's make some hand-offs to local officials every so often." Zartan explained as he led her inside. "Zandar's already taken his tour and split, by the way."

Sometime later, Zarana is wandering about after trying out some Cobra firearms, seeing a match in the arena, and lastly takes a shower with some other female troops after taking a Stinger's engine apart and putting it back together. While getting re-dressed, she starts talking to some woman getting a Crimson Guard uniform out of her locker. "Say, that one i switched with out on tha' job?"

"You must be referring to H303; no, she terminated herself after your mission was finished." The C.G. explains in a casual tone.

"She did what?!" Zarana asks with a disbelieving look on her face. "What the hell for?"

The C.G. sighs before replying in a condescending tone. "It would be awfully strange for Carol to be seen after they died in an explosion, wouldn't it?"

"...But that's still the most fucked up thing i ever-she could jus' as easily changed 'er face or something...and-and don't talk like I'm an bloomin' tyke!" Zarana tells her, growing nervous, even sickened with each word.

"Any kind of plastic surgery is traceable. We of the Crimson Guard take no chances when it comes to our duty, Dreadnok." The C.G. told her before walking off.

A short time later, Zarana notices a platform outside that she was told about, one floor above her, and decides to have a look. While leaving the stairwell, she passes a sign labeled Sector 45-A, and see's a few Vipers standing near an anti-aircraft gun.

"You must be the one the Baroness was talking about." She hears one of them* say, and twitches an eye at the mention of the stuck-up bitch with the dumb accent who called her tawdry earlier; so what if she didn't eat freaking fish-eggs every day, Zarana thought (being super pissed once she found out what tawdry meant), atleast her jugs didn't cost as much as a damn house!

"Yep, name's Zarana. One of your Strato-Vipers** said ya can see the whole island from 'ere."

* * *

Hawk's departure from the base put Duke back in charge, times he looked back on with pride and regret; and regret...was something he had up the wazoo right now.

"Yo Joe Biden!" Some of the personnel yell out on the base's golf course.

"George Bush!" All of the air force members yell back, with Wild Bill flying a banner from a Tomahawk.

"Jesse Jackson!" Roadblock and the other African-American members, and Lifeline, yell.

"Bob Dole!" Some more of them yell.

Duke can only slap a hand over his eyes in as everyone is up in arms over next years election picks. (All except david duke and pat robertson, who were only represented as two strips of tape on a garbage can)

"Flint?"

"Yeah?"

"If i live long enough to be offered to command again during next election year; shove a boot over my head and have me hog-tied, will ya?"

"Only if Beachhead agrees to do the same to me." Flint replied as he watches said 3IC holding a poster for Michael Dukakis.

Once that was over, Lifeline and Lift-Ticket are off base for a supply run. The medic is waiting outside leaning against the truck when he hears someone walking up behind him. "Don't turn your head. Act like your phone went off." The person says quietly.

"Suppose i don't feel like it?"

"Awful tough talk from someone who's so against violence; well, let's just say it'd be a shame if there was one less wedding guest." The person said, and continued after Lifeline complied while unconsciously balling up one fist. "A big bird has been screeching."

Figuring he was talking about either Hawk, Lifeline replies. "...What about?"

"Tell Duke something's been giving off sparks in a sand lot." The person told him, and walked off just before Lift-Ticket returned.

"Who the hell was that...You alright there, new guy?"

When the two returned, Lifeline informed Duke, who called the monitor and intel rooms to check every desert and dried up body of water until they found anything suspicious. After half a day, they get something. "Area 51; are you certain?"

No doubt about it, Duke. There's been a load of components being shipped in, and only 2/3rds of them were aircraft parts. Snake-Eyes wrote while in a hospital bed, having barely made it back from checking it out.

"I see; I'll have us wait while before sending some more Joes there. Until then, get well soon." Duke tells him, and gets an "ok" hand-sign in reply.

* * *

Chapter Forty-seven. Read and review.

* Formerly Blue-shirt 2688.

** The one Slip-Stream will eventually encounter.


	48. Both foreign and domestic

Frontline News.

* * *

After leaving the infirmary, Duke calls three Joes to the briefing room. Once they are seated, he begins. "Now that we're all here, i have what may be the most problematic assignment G.I. Joe has faced so far."

"What makes you say that, Duke?" Mainframe asked him.

"Because it's a long term deployment to go undercover at a location that even Cobra must not know of, seeing as how they've never made a move on it; Joes, I'm sending you to Groom Lake-" Duke says, and is cut-off by an excited shout by another of the trio.

"You mean it?!, Haha, that's gotta be the best...when are-when are we leaving, right now, right?" Sci-Fi asks, leaning in Duke's face. Mainframe holds a hand over his mouth while the third balks at the outburst.

"Will you sit down, i was just getting to that." Duke tells him, and takes a breath before continuing. "Anyway, we've recently received a tip-off of something occurring there. I want the three of you to find out what it is. Any questions?"

Mainframe raises a hand first. "I noticed you didn't mention if this was a Cobra plot, was that on purpose?"

"Very good catch, there. As for why, it's because we've already sent Snake-Eyes there to determine just that. All he found was a small crate with a dozen semi-conductor boards, each one as big as a VCR." Duke explained. "Any other questions...Yes?"

"I got one; any reason why i have to take Dorky McGlowstick along?" Lady-Jaye asks, still being in "Stalker, tell that red-head..." mode due to the election frenzy before she nudges her head toward Mainframe. "I can get sending the snake charmer; but him?"

"What the hell'd you just call me?!"/"Oh yeah, well...you're a toothpick fairy." Mainframe and Sci-Fi both say.

"As you were!" Duke demanded. "Sci-Fi's not going with you, Lady-Jaye; you're going with him because Mainframe is gonna be the lead this time."

* * *

While the four of them iron out the specifics, Flint and Beachhead are at the airfield welcoming a group of four Joes from the Japanese branch that were sent to inspect the new vehicles before requisitioning some of them. As two of them glance around, the other two, Wire Cutter and Azimuth, bow and introduces them. "Flint, Beachhead; these two are Zeroed In*, and Thatchweave*."

"Good afternoon; Beachhead'll lead your pilot to the hangerbay, and I'll take the rest of you to the motorpool." Flint tells them, only to notice an odd expression on her face, and gets a look of shock and remorse after Azimuth explains, causing him to head to the nearest intercom. "Bazooka, front and center on the airfield."

Once he gets there. "Wire Cutter, you're back...what's wrong?" He asks, wondering why the rest start walking away.

"Bazooka, i...i don't know how to say this, but, I'm not going to be Wire Cutter after this demonstration." She tells him, hesitating and looking down when he asks what she means. "You...know i like you, right?"

"Did something happen?"

"The worst thing possible...I'm~I'm having someone e~lse's baby." She confessions while covering her face.

Bazooka feels a dropping sensation in his chest before he stops gawking and puts an arm around her shoulder. "How'd it happen?" He asks, and she explains that two months ago, a U2 from a base in Australia had returned from a flight over Yemen. The pilot reported seeing a glint from the Andaman islands, so a second flight went out and caught a circular object on a patch of land south of it with a Cobra symbol painted on it.

"I was sent along with another Joe named Gearbox* to capture any enemy troopers we could find for uniform swapping. We found one, but he got off a warning before we could subdue him. We were chased down for two and a half days before...before Gearbox took a round to the side." She told him before tearing up. "We didn't think we were~getting out alive~and he~he told me he didn't want to...before he died, he~told me he wa~nted to know what it felt like."

"It?...Oh."

"After we~after that, the patrols stopped~for boarding the pair of heli-carriers i saw leaving...for the attack here before your Col. left; so i made my way off and stole a Water Moccasin. A ship heading to Burma** found me a few hours later...I'm sorry, I'm sorry...Please don't hate me." She begged while wiping her face.

"Wouldn't fix nuthin'." He tells her before pressing his lips against her forehead. "Taeko."

"But...what am i supposed to do?" She asked him, only for both of them to hear Duke cut-in.

"Oh, i think i can find someone to get in touch with the Minnesota state senator and make an arrangement for that thing i didn't hear just know." He tells the pair while he, and Mainframe's team are exiting an M151.

"You mean it, Duke?" Bazooka asks, and starts smiling along with Mainframe and Lady-Jaye while Duke explains some stuff to Sci-Fi in the background. "Hear that, Taeko; now you can live at my house and have all the yucky raw fish you want."

She, however declines while pressing her face against his. "I'd rather have some yucky hamburgers."

* * *

Chapter Forty-eight. Read and review.

*OC's.

**This takes place about a year before the country's name was changed.


	49. Turning point part three

Frontline News.

TY for comments.

Last chapter featuring Wire Cutter as a codename...send a PM if you want to use it.

* * *

While Mainframe and his two assistants are leaving the base for Nevada, and while Thatchweave is testing one of the Conquest jets, Hawk, who had returned after a presidential pardon to much fanfare, is in his office looking at a request for new vehicle targets for the rifle range when there's a knock at his door. "Come on in. Good afternoon...Or maybe not?" He says to himself after Duke and Bazooka walk in with Wire Cutter, and Quick-Kick who insisted on following. He speaks again after they all repeat the story to him. "She's what; whichever one of you did it is going to wish he never met me!" He warned as he got out of his chair.

"Wait, please, it wasn't either of them." She tells him, and continues explaining.

"Hmm...i spoke too soon, then. Sorry. Anyway; you have no intention of returning after that?" He asks her.

"No sir, i-i want to put as much distance between that island and myself as possible." She replied while forcing her eyes shut and shaking her head.

"Can't ya help her, General?" Bazooka asked.

Hawk leans back in his chair, inwardly debating between whether he even could go through with the request vs all he'd heard of her people before deciding. "You've already sent word for your belongings to be sent?"

"No, my only request was that my bank account be converted and transferred." She replies. "Bazooka and Quick-Kick have both agreed to add their fare share."

"What'll it be, Hawk?"/"Yeah, pretty please?" Duke asked followed by Quick-Kick, who just as soon got glanced at by the former. "Quiet."

"...If you're all so into this, i suppose i can. But I'd have get someone from civilian affairs down here first to make sure we aren't violating anything."

"Huh?"

"You said she'd be living with you, didn't you, Bazooka?"

"Uh-huh."

"Doesn't that imply you two plan on marrying at some point?" Hawk asks him, causing both him and Taeko to freeze in place. "Bazooka?"

"...Yep, you broke 'em." Quick-Kick says after waving a hand infront of the jersey wearer's face.

* * *

Around the same time, the first three Joes have just left the base. "Mock me all you want, lady, but you'll be so glad I'm taking part if any bad guys show up." Sci-Fi says in response to Lady-Jaye's remark about whether he was only going to "return to planet spaztopia".

"Whatever." She tells him from the backseat of the van.

"Not to sound like I'm taking her side..." Mainframe said as he twisted his head so as to keep watching the road. "But have you seen a flying saucer, a real one?"

"Not personally, but there's this guy back home who was a missile technician at Malmstrom AFB back during that fiasco in 1967.*" Sci-Fi told them as he shrugged.

After some time, the three stop at a gas station so Mainframe could make the first check-in. "So there's one less...Yeah, he better hide...Right, I'll let them know, catch'ya later." He says before turning the console off.

"What'd Dial-Tone say?" Sci-Fi asked.

"Aside from that girlfriend of Bazooka's staying at...which one was it, Short-Fuze, or Steeler that lost his eye?"

"Short-Fuze." Lady-Jaye said.

"Oh; anyway, Bazooka, Alpine, and Quck-Kick are helping her move in there for a few days until she can get a flight to Minnesota. Also, a few of the secondaries are on the way back from Walter Reed, except for that Lavigne kid. According to Perry, he decided to head back to Texas." Mainframe explained.

"That's too bad; but what was that about hiding?" She asks next, thinking about Flint commenting to her that Beachhead had been thinking about offering "dat boy a spot in duh big leegzz" before the base was raided.

"Someone from sup/req ordered an expired batch of flour."

"And anything else?" She asked before waving a hand at a fly.

"Just that once Azimuth and the other two take what they need, Beachhead is being sent to MacGuffin labs. Not sure why, though." He finished.

* * *

None of them are aware, however, that the fly was really a miniature surveillance drone**. "Well, you just let usss figure that out for you." Cobra Commander says outloud. "Baroness, go find where thiss laboratory is, so Dr. Mindben...Wait; where is he, for that matter?"

"In his quarters due to another exhaustion episode, Commander." Destro replied.

"Bah, forget him then. Just find out what you can."

"Yes Commander; but vhat about those three Joes?" The Baroness asks. "If they are head to Nevada, does that mean-" She continues until Cobra Commander raised a hand.

"It means nothing." He says. "Even if Area 51 does exist, all it would have are prototypes."

"That's exactly why we should march on it." Destro tells him, but the Commander refuses.

"Nonsssense; why waste valuable resources for stealing ssomething that turns out to be slapped together junk?" He tells them, not wanting to reveal that agreeing would mean breaking a non-aggression pact his people have with a certain entity.

"He does have a..." Tomax started to say.

"...point there, doesn't he?" Xamot finished.

The rest glance about, but they all agree to drop the issue and focus on the lab.

* * *

Chapter Forty-nine. Read and review.

* Made-up person. Real incident.

** Same kind as the one from season 2, episode 1.


	50. Research and development

Frontline News.

Disclaimer: Do i need to make one for a video rental business that doesn't exist anymore?

* * *

Once they book a hotel room, Mainframe and Lady-Jaye wait for Sci-fi to return from a local Blockbuster, hoping it would have any tapes about the place they're headed to. After trading stories like how he joined the Joe's reserve roster after helping to design the satellite from the attempt to destroy the Relay Star back in '83, the two pass the time by worrying if what happened with Taeko and Bazooka could happen to them and their "hidden interests"; even though Mainframe isn't sure why it bothers him; until a new thought pops up. "Say...Did you calling me that back infront of Duke mean you knew all along?"

Lady-Jaye glances at him from the second bed before closing her eyes and nodding. "I'll admit we knew they'd try the in-direct approach after Low-Light and Iceberg reported spotting someone; but we assumed it would be it would just be the Baroness as usual. Only reason it ended up with you in a hospital bed is because we...we let it happen."

"Let it...you piece of..." He tells her as he slams a fist on the mattress, infuriated that he had been used by other Joes as well as by Cobra. "Sorry; you needed to know Zarana's style for future reference, right?"

"We all did; and i am too." She replied.

Neither says anything else until Sci-Fi got back. "I got the stuff, guys. Which one should we watch first-nevermind, I'll choose!" He says cheerfully as he drops a bag on the table.

"Great...what kept you?"/"Those better all be related to why we're here, or I'll kick your butt." Lady-Jaye and Mainframe tell him.

"If you must know, i was on my way back when i saw another of those dumb bastards trying to pass themselves off as a serviceman." Sci-Fi explained. "So i led him into an alley and set him straight."

"Geez, as if our job wasn't hard enough. You didn't say too much while you were at it, did you?" She asks him.

"Nope, just told him about my last assignment. You~you should have how fast the color drained from his fat face. How many of them have you come across?" He asks them.

"According to Stalker, 8 of them since the team was formed; most of which had to be ignored due to risk of exposure." She tells him before mentioning how Gung-Ho told her about making one who tried passing himself off as a navy man when both were captive during the incident with the laser guidance system.

"Served him right; but anyway, let's get back to work, shall we?" Mainframe said as he motioned for Sci-Fi to pop one in to the VCR.

"Before i do that...how is it that he isn't always going at it with any of those navy guys?" Sci-Fi asked them.

"Oh, he was for a while; but back when **they** were using that anti-money beam, Gung-Ho was struggling with a rioter when they fell through a store's display window, but Shipwreck was the only one with the same bloodtype as him." Lady-Jaye explained.

* * *

As those three are doing that, Beachhead arrives at MacGuffin labs. "Ahm here to speak with da person in chahge of dis place, any idea where ah kin faind him?" He asks a nearby janitor.

"That depends, sonny; which of them doohickeys are ya here for?" The older man asked him.

"Don't mean no offense, but ah ain't at libehty to tell yuh dat." Beachhead replies.

"Ah; one of those, eh?" The janitor says before turning to his right. "Check down that second hall, i saw Dr. Pettigrew* and another visitor go down there a few minutes ago."

"Another, whut'd dey look laik?"

"Black haired lady; almost looked like this Russian dame i met once when the war ended, boy was my wife mad when she found out..." The janitor was saying, not noticing Beachhead rushing off.

"Aw, da Baroness is here, ain't she?" He tells himself as he looks around at each door. "Dem snakes jes' don't learn, do dey?"

"Excuse me, sir, are you lost?"/"Don't yuh cawl me sir! Now drop an..." One of the lab staff and Beachhead say before the latter stops himself. "Ah mean, yes. Ahm Beachhead, 4IC of G.I. Joe; y'awl gat some stuff found in duh Atlantic in here somewhere."

"Oh, this way then, examination room 38." The person says, and leads him there. "You...really with G.I. Joe?"

"Dat's wut ah said; wut about it?"

"My cousin knew a guy who tried out as one of your support troops two years ago, but he didn't get past basic training."

"Not suhprised, turn-out rate jes' for Green-shirts is one out of twenteh."

Inside he sees people in white coats gathered around a glass cylinder. "Dr. Pettigrew, one of G.I. Joe's commanders is here to speak with you."

"Ok, one second, please." One of the researchers says, and heads over after setting down a clipboard. "You are?"

"Beachhead. Fourth in command. Heard yuh had a soviet lady here?"

"No, that was a Dr. Teuful, a technician from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft**." The lead scientist tells him.

After a few seconds of trying to get past the big words only fit for danged college boys like that beret wearing blockhead, he huffs and asks what this Dr. Teuful wanted.

"She said she was sent to examine some of the artifacts that were recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, but she didn't have the proper clearance, so we turned her down." Dr. Pettigrew explains. "Anything worth losing an aircraft carrier for isn't what you let just anyone look at, after all."

"Uh-huh; and where's she now?" Beachhead asked as he looks around.

"She left about eight or nine minutes ago...why, you think she really was a soviet spy?"

"Eitheh dat or one from Cobra. Y'awl best let us know da second any of them comes cawllin'."

"Oh, we will. Now that that's settled, would you like to see one of the artifacts, we recently discovered how No. 210 works."

* * *

At the same time, the three Joes are alone on the road after returning the tapes. "So now that we got that take care of, what do we do next?" Sci-Fi asks.

Mainframe starts to turn to reply before a blinding light appears out of nowhere, and just as quickly vanishes along with the van and the passengers.

* * *

Final chapter. Read and review.

* Made up character.

** German Research Foundation in what was the West German capital, Bonn.


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